Headfirst into the Stream
We've been at this webcasting thing for over a year now. It's been a lot of fun, partly because we're a start-up effort: We're lean, if not mean, and since we aren't a big part of ABC News' overall activities, management lets us alone. But as the saying goes, it's been no "bed of roses." Technical bottlenecks have restricted our audience to some degree and determining the preferences of a new type of viewership; one with different habits and tastes than the mass television audience, has been a challenge.
We started off with a bang. In its second week of existence, the
SamDonaldson@ABCNEWS.com Web site enjoyed 40,000 first-day hits — users drawn, it seems, by a program featuring Minnesota Governor, Jesse Ventura. "Hey," we thought, "this isn't as difficult as we feared." Yes, we noticed that only about 20,000 people actually hit the streaming video link to watch the interview, but we didn't give it much thought. However, as the days went by and the 50 percent gap between page visits and actual streaming video hits continued, we began to understand the problem — particularly as overall numbers dropped week by week.
With all due respect to the brilliant minds that have constructed the Internet and created the means to stream video, it is just too difficult at the moment for the average person to log on, find our page, download the RealPlayer, and then load the webcast. And once called up, the webcast, with its fuzzy images, constant buffering, and Net congestion, often isn't worth watching, unless you are closely tied to the subject or just fiercely dedicated. We received and continue to receive, e-mails and letters from people telling us they tried to watch us and found it impossible. And we realize, of course, that second chances are hard to come by on the Web.
One writer demanded, almost angrily, that we explain why we were on the Web since, he said, we offered absolutely nothing you couldn't find on regular television.
But we do have a loyal core audience — and the waxing and waning of that audience from episode to episode is educational, directly related as it is to the webcast subject matter. This audience is composed largely of "techies" (bless them) — people who are willing to put up with the flaws of streaming. They are younger than our general television audience, and predominately male. When we do Internet- or technology market-related programs — with the likes of Bill Joy, Marc Andreessen and Jim Cramer, or covering computer gaming or Napster in its early stages — they come and our numbers swell.
But when we do interviews that would surely appeal to the conventional television audience - with Willie Mays, Stephen Ambrose, Tracey Ullman, or Oscar de la Renta — our "techies" don't watch and our numbers dwindle. There are some exceptions to this rule. The day we spotlighted Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue — talking to cover model Daniela Pestova and showing some of the pictures — we had a huge audience once again!
So, while there is undoubtedly a gap between Web and television audiences, there is also overlap. In the beginning, we were surprised by the immediate hostility of some critics who write about the Internet; they clearly considered us unwelcome interlopers. One writer demanded, almost angrily, that we explain why we were on the Web since, he said, we offered absolutely nothing you couldn't find on regular television. But the Web isn't a province that belongs only to interactive content, as exciting as that content can be. I'm convinced that someday we'll watch, say, Monday Night Football, not by tuning our television sets to the local ABC station, but by logging on to the ABC Web page. And if Jerry Seinfeld comes out of retirement to produce, once again, one of the funniest shows in entertainment, do you think Web viewers won't watch unless they are invited to determine the show's ending with a real-time vote?
We think the future of streaming is promising; but of course, we're counting on the technical wizards to improve ease of access and perfect the picture quality. I'm sure they will. Optimists say it will happen within 5 years, and pessimists say it may take 10, but no one I know will say it won't happen.
So, after one year, where do we stand? Our webcast audience numbers are rising, particularly when taking into account streaming hits aggregated over time. We've learned that rather than tune in live, right on time, most people choose to watch our program at their leisure, be it in the evening, the next day, or the next month. Will we have our "bed of roses?" Not necessarily. Being first is no guarantee of survival once competitors appear. But we're going to be here to watch. And we must be making progress: We've just been called into our first meeting with ABC News management.