CBS had now launched an online video offering, called InnerTube, supplying some original programming, including an online-only reality show. This is after the ABC experiment of showing full-blown episodes of yesterday airings of Lost, Alias and other popular shows. Lost episodes on ABC feature some commercials from Tylenol, and you can see that they’re just experimenting with the format.
I suppose for ABC that means that episode sales through Apple iTunes did not quite monetize, and the infrastructure to support $2 episodes cost more than the cash that Apple and ABC received from the people willing to watch full-featured episodes on a small iPod screen (although, to be fair, episodes downloaded from Apple, are viewable on Mac or PC). Between limited sales in iTunes store and episodes appearing regularly on popular bittorrent sites, the TV network must have figured out there’s currently more money in video ads than per-episode sales.
The biggest disappointment with the online video offerings from TV networks is that both require viewing the video in their own customized player. There’s no way to launch VLC, Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, WinAmp or whatever software you’re familiar with. Another disappointment is lack of truly high-quality video streams. Somehow the current understanding of video users on the Web is that they don’t like the wait. Therefore most of the provider-supplied players consider 800×600 to be the best in video resolution. I am perfectly fine with having to wait for 2-3 minutes for the video to buffer if after a little wait I can watch it on 24″ 1920×1200 wide-screen monitor.
Speaking of video and high-tech, my employer is currently looking for people with real gadget envy to be featured on a brand new reality show we’re launching soon. You have to be somewhat of a luddite to actually need a high-tech upgrade that would change your life, but at the same time you have to be technically savvy to upload your video to iFilm.
