Will Comcast and Other TV People Make Big or Small Moves for their Users?
by Bill Ives
This morning at Fast Forward 08 there was panel with a number of media companies on the user revolution that included my media provider, Comcast. Randal Hounsell represented them.
Opening question. How is Comcast thinking about this user revolution? - I am a Comcast user for TV and the web so this got my attention. He said they are looking for feedback on users favorites on video and ratings on videos. He discussed how they want to have TV and their web site work together, specifically having the web provide a follow up to TV. This is a common practice already, a smart move, but not revolutionary. I will look for what Comcast brings to me as a user. They did a good job on getting the service on again when the snow plow knocked out my cable box, along with web access. However, they left the box in the same place so they were no were not looking at long term solutions here. They were also going to wait three days to fix it until I got my neighbors to call in also so it was movement.
Comcast was asked about ads as a revenue stream. They want to have more targeted ads based on user information and what users are doing. They also want to add more interactivity. I wonder what this means. He gave the example of zooming in on a truck during and ad - hardly something I will get excited about. But if I can rewind the basketball game and give the Celtics another chance to hit that winning shot at the buzzer or listen to my coaching suggestions. That will be a user revolution. Now I am speaking metaphorically, but a real impact on shows and participation is more inline with the web user revolution than looking closer at truck parts.
Comcast is talking about employing search that makes use of user profiles. I have not seen how this will work. I should spend more time at their web site. I wonder if it will come to TV. Randall said that video is hotter than text and there has not been an integrator emerge in this space. There are silos like YouTube but how do you pull things together here? This is a good question. Comcast only gets my attention through TV. I only go to their web site for web mail when I cannot get email through my own computer and Mac Mail. It will take more to get my attention focused on their web site. However, they already have my attention on the TV side enough through I am not a heavy TV watcher - just sports and movies. Randal said, admitting his bias, that a year from now the emerging thing will be the video experience. The focus for years has been on production and not the actual experience of the user. I will be watching.
