Monthly Archive for September, 2009

Hulu Working on Tech to Sell Subscriptions: Yeah Pay TV On Demand Online!

Category: Video subscriptions

According to Dan Rayburn, Hulu has an in-house tech team busily beta testing a subscription system they’ve built.  Management (including Neo-Sub-Lover Murdoch) are being mealy-mouthed in official announcements about the ifs, let alone the whens, Hulu will actually launch subscriptions.

Speaking as someone who has managed tech teams building in-house subscription platforms, my hat is off to them.  It’s way more complicated than anyone thinks.  Yes, you can buy a piece of crappy software online for $99 to turn your blog “into” a subscription site… but trust me, it’s crappy.  For basic DRM, recurring billing processing, subscriber records, marketing reports, etc, let alone the kind of uber-sleak Apple-esque cart experience we’d all expect from the Hulu Brand, it’s gonna be a long tech row to hoe.

Funnily enough, just before I built and managed subscription sites, I was the marketing director in the mid-90s for a publications such as Digital Video News and CableFAX Daily.  Our reporters breathlessly dashed out exclusives about America’s upcoming “500 channels” future coming soon with on-demand video for sure! This was back when the Internet was still called the ‘Information Superhighway’.

15 years later, we have 300 million+ channels online and yet we’re still waiting around for really, truly video on demand.  As in any TV show or video that I want, when I want it, now, now now and yes I will pay a subscription.  My step-daughter has to pay a PC guy to debug her computer every few weeks because she can’t wait for the new episode of House to show up on Hulu, so she downloads it from a shady Asian site.  So, we’ve got this as a household budget item already.

Yes, people will pay for TV.  Even TV with commercials. If it’s what they desire to watch at the moment they desire it.  Convenience is a mighty powerful motivator.   Not to mention Hugh Laurie.
Posted on: 09/18/2009
By: Anne Holland
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49% of Surveyed US Newspaper Publishers Think Their Content’s Maybe Not Worth Paying For Online

Category: Traditional media online

Newsasaur Alan Mutter has gotten his hands on new American Press Institute data showing that 49% of 118 surveyed US newspaper publishers aren’t sure their readers would pay for their content online.   Having spent much of the past seven years as a heavy business traveler in the US, I’ve probably read half these guys’ newspapers at one time or another, and yeah, I agree with them.

I don’t care about the politics in the nearest big city to my home.  I don’t need generic people-features written at a 6th grade level.  What else have you got to offer me?

The average US citizen moves home – often fairly dramatically — seven times in their life.  Their local community, let alone the big city their suburban home is nearest, isn’t that interesting to them.  They didn’t go to high school with the mayor, and their cousin’s company isn’t up for that big county road resurfacing gig.   Their kids may not go to the public schools, heck they may not leave home at all.  If they’re passionate about a local sports team, in all likelihood they get the coverage directly from a sports-specialist publisher.

In fact, their passions — and when we pay for content, we pay for passion and/or extreme convenience — are as likely to be shared with disparate friends, family, colleagues and fellow enthusiasts dispersed all across America, not in their local region.    We don’t live local lives emotionally anymore.

As the voice of the local, how can newspapers survive as paid content?  My suggestion — split yourself into niches.  For example, I’d pay for a crime watch emailed police blotter by zip code.  In a big fat heartbeat.   And we all know the obits sell.  Not to mention, the handpicked Best Yardsales for each weekend — especially if I can sign up by neighborhood.  And, if you can send me a screensaver-worthy photo of my own kid at the soccer game, I’d pay.

I know none of this stuff is classic newspaper journalism.  It’s content the intern could put out with a little help from your tech department.  And, yes I do wish there were more outlets for the glory of news journalism too — maybe a “shocking consumer rip-offs” or “biggest political stupidity” site that gathers best-of stories from across the entire USA?  But, subscribe to a general info newspaper for my area?  I think not.
Posted on: 09/15/2009
By: Anne Holland
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