ON AOL.COM RUNNING WARNER RERUNS ON DEMAND

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

(UPDATES BELOW)*

Couldn't believe it when I first read the Washington Post headline:

"AOL TO HAVE RERUNS ON DEMAND"

The article then goes on to explain:

"America Online Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. are planning to put thousands of episodes of once-popular television shows like "Welcome Back Kotter" and "Chico and the Man" on the AOL.com Web site, where high-speed Internet users can view them for free.

The new In2TV service is set to launch in January and will include episodes of more than 100 shows."...

"The companies, both part of media giant Time Warner Inc., will profit by sharing revenue from advertising, including banner ads and four 15-second streaming video ads per 30-minute episode."

My first reaction?

"Now that's WHAT I'm talkin' about!!"

I yelled out loud, to no on particular in the study.

Why my enthusiasm?

Let me count the ways:

1. It's from the AOL of old for the AOL of new:  AOL.COM, a free, ad-support consumer online service.  It's from AOL!!  Who'd have thunk?
2. It's the first real synergistic thing I've seen from the AOL merger with Time Warner that goes to why I thought the merger might have been a good idea way back when...but we needed high broadband penetration...it's been a LOOOONG five year wait.
3. The reruns are free!  No insipid $0.99 per view on demand charge like the announcements by CBS and NBC a few days ago.
4. OK, so the shows are Kotter and Chico and not the latest and greatest.  But that's totally fine.  We're talking the LOOONG tail of content here, baby...there're a few million of us who grew up watching those shows in the seventies...we'll watch them again now and then. 
5. It's a great start...100 shows at first with two shows...potential to grow to thousands  with dozens of not hundreds of shows to go.
6. It shows that we can see really cool, big and brave steps forward by "Old Media" working with "semi-New media".  It doesn't always have to be just Google and Yahoo!
7. It's from AOL and Time Warner!!  Oh, did I mention that already?  Well, it's worth saying it again, because the two together have been portrayed by the media as the three stooges rolled into two ever since they got together.  It's BOLD!

Look, I know this is a small step with two barely remembered TV shows, and we're not talking about a ton of ad money here for a behemoth like Time Warner.  But it's a starting point to figure out what works and what doesn't, with limited downside...AND without too many strings attached, and hoops to jump through for consumers.

Now, a few items on the wish list, AOL and Time Warner...are you ready?

1. Make these things down-loadable onto video iPods, and other portable devices.
2. Make sure you allow folks to download these shows on demand onto laptops to be played later when the viewer is NOT connected to the internet.  You can set the files to self-erase or become unplayable after a pre-set time limit.
3. Make them burnable onto DVDs, even if you put in expiration locks on the content.
4. Of course, put more shows out there, in different genres.
5. I know this is about bolstering the traffic and appeal of AOL.COM, but don't be afraid to explore syndication deals with Google, Yahoo! etc., after an exclusivity play period on AOL.COM.

I'm sure there'll be a ton more suggestions to come from everyone, but these are some off the top of my head.

Great move...congratulations for making the leap.

*  UPDATES:  This post has been "Om'd" in Om Malik's post on the subject (Thanks, Om).

Also,

The New York Times' Saul Hansell has a more detailed story on the rerun story, outlining the plans by Warner and AOL.  Some more things to applaud include:

1.  The companies are using a peer to peer (P2P) infrastructure by Kontiki to provide a higher definition version of the rerun service dubbed AOL Hi-Q.  This is good as it reduced the bandwidth loads of this much broadband traffic all around, and provides a higher resolution product for the TV as well the PC:

"For those who want to watch on a big screen, AOL is introducing optional technology that it says will produce a DVD-quality picture. Even with a broadband connection, most Internet video looks grainy at full width on a computer monitor, let alone a big TV set. The new option, called AOL Hi-Q, will require the downloading once of special software, and the program may not start for several minutes, depending on the speed of the users' connection.

There is a catch. To use the technology, viewers will have to agree to participate in a special file-sharing network. This approach helps AOL reduce the cost of distributing-high quality video files by passing portions of the video files from one user's computer to another. AOL says that since it will control the network, it can protect users from the sorts of viruses and spyware that infect other peer-to-peer systems."

2.  Warner's plans are for broader and deeper syndication of a wide array of programs under the brand In2TV nos. 4 and 5 of my wish list above...wow, that was quick, guys, thanks.

More to come...stay tuned.

Comments

[brian]

I noticed there would be only four 15 second ad spots per episode and with a CPM of $10 each show will earn 4c. I don't see how AOL will earn anything because bandwidth charges will cost at least that much. While this is nice for older already paid for content, it doesn't help pay for new content. There has to be a way for AOL to boost the CPM much higher.