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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, January 27, 2008

Rise in online TV viewing benefits viewers, networks

By Mike Snider
USA Today

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Go to Fancast.com and you can catch full-length episodes of the CBS series "Jericho," starring Skeet Ulrich, left, and Esai Morales.

PATRICK WYMORE | CBS

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Signs are that time spent watching video — not just snacks a la YouTube, but full episodes — is increasing. The number of broadband users who watched full shows online weekly doubled in 2007 from 8 percent to 16 percent, says market research firm Horowitz Associates.

Embracing the Web is "an acknowledgement that this is real (and networks) have a business model and can monetize it and make it part of their growth," Howard Horowitz says.

By giving consumers online access, networks have learned they can reinforce viewer devotion. "This is mostly driven by TV audiences who missed (an episode) and want to watch it on their computer," says Shelly Palmer, author of "Television Disrupted: The Transition From Network to Networked TV." "I don't think NBC or ABC is caring where you watch as long as they can count on you."

Traffic on www.Veoh.com, which recently sealed a deal to add MTV to an array of CBS, Fox and NBC series, rose 24 percent during the last three months of 2007; 40 percent comes during traditional prime-time hours, says Veoh's Dmitry Shapiro. "That is a very telling and important statistic. It's the same content they can find on TV, but they feel they have more control."

Traffic tracking firm ComScore found online viewers watched an average of three hours in November, 29 percent more than January 2007, though YouTube and MySpace dominate, says analyst Andrew Lipsman. A growing number of sites, including MeeVee, seek to not only connect viewers with full episodes but also offer TiVo-style recommendations and direct them to offline diversions.

"There is a lot of content out there," says Amy Banse of Comcast, which just started www.Fancast.com with CBS, NBC and Fox shows, among others. "Some of it lives in movie theaters, some on television, some in video on demand and some on the Internet, but it's hard to find. We wanted to create a tool (for) people to find what they are looking for, regardless of platform or screen."

It wasn't long ago that networks started selected series on their own sites. Now episodes are spreading not only to well-known portals such as AOL and Yahoo, but also to new destinations that mix in video searching, listings and social networking.

Some options:

FANCAST.COM

Description: Online since last summer but formally announced last week by cable giant Comcast, Fancast has more than 3,000 hours of shows, including "Jericho" (CBS), "Bones" (Fox) and "30 Rock" (NBC), as well as Bravo and Sci Fi programs. Can be personalized for your cable or satellite networks.

Experience: TV series have their own home pages with episode guides; the CBS "Jericho" page, for example, tells you there are 22 episodes on Fancast and several will air on Universal HD next week, and it links to areas on Amazon Unbox, iTunes and NetFlix. A short ad runs before the episode begins. Enlarged to full-screen, the video gets slightly fuzzier. A neat "Six Degrees" function suggests other shows that "Jericho" actors appeared in and that have similar themes.

Expert says: "It really looks good," says Alex Patriquin of Web analysis firm Compete. "It's got all the cool shows Hulu has to offer and a few extras, and it's doing quite well. They had almost 450,000 visitors in December, so it's off to a very strong start."

HULU.COM

Description: More than a video-rich Web site, Hulu is the online distribution service launched three months ago by NBC Universal and News Corp. (Fox). Its content can be found as well on AOL, Fancast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo. Episodes range from recent Fox and NBC shows to older series including "Firefly," "Kojak" and "Miami Vice." Videos can be sent via e-mail or embedded into personal Web sites.

Experience: You request to join the beta trial, and once invited, you create a profile and start browsing episodes organized by genre or studio/network. An episode of "The Office" begins after a message from a sponsor. Afterward, a link to buy the episode connects you to Amazon Unbox, which sells $1.99 downloads. Hulu offers five other "Office" episodes and numerous clips.

Expert says: "It remains to be seen if it will end up as a destination among the broader online audience," Patriquin says. "They certainly have a wealth of content that is probably unmatched in terms of high production-value content."

JOOST.COM

Description: Since opening to all users in beta test form last fall, Joost (from the creators of Net phone service Skype) has added nearly every episode of the original "Star Trek" along with programs from PBS and the NBA to its 20,000-plus shows, from CBS, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central and MTV.

Experience: Install software (a 26-megabyte download) and set up a profile. Then explore shows by type, alphabetically or search word. Click to play, or a "+" icon adds it to a channel you program. A short commercial plays and a small opaque ad appears in the lower-right corner of the screen for a few seconds. Video quality is good, a bit better than www.CBS.com's own video.

Expert says: Patriquin wonders whether people want a higher picture quality, "which you have to jump through a hoop to get (downloading the software) or do you want to depend on Internet connectivity?"