‘Gossip Girl’: Lame ban on online video
The CW’s astoundingly regressive move to pull “Gossip Girl” off the Internet probably wasn’t much help in its “season premiere.”
Nielsen ratings show that the drama about Manhattan preppies pulled in 2.4 million viewers (1.3 rating/4 share) in its post-strike return to original episodes in a new time slot.
That means “Gossip Girl” was up about 8% over its pre-strike average, numbers that would be in line with a highly promoted original episode in a premium time slot. Compared with the overall season average, the numbers are even off a tad (2.4 million on Monday vs. 2.5 million average). Compared with the show’s debut back in the fall, that’s off 1 million viewers.
The CW’s spastic attempt to drive young viewers from the Internet to the old medium of television indicates the level of desperation at the “fifth network.” Don’t fret too much, “Gossip Girl,” this is the network whose magazine series “CW Now” actually posted a 0.2/00 in late January. Ratings for the Green Network are off something like 20% since last season.
The online video crowd now will have to be satisfied with some two-minute recaps and some production footage. Downloads of “Gossip Girl” remain for sale on the iTunes Store, where it is a hot property.
“This is an experiment to see if we can help move the needle,” CW spokesman Paul McGuire told the Los Angeles Times in a story about the end to “Gossip Girl” video streaming.
Of online video, CW entertainment boss Dawn Ostroff groused in January, “We don’t make the kind of money we make when it’s on the air.”
One irony here is that the show’s characters are totally plugged in to new media, spreading their vicious gossip via mobile text and the Web. Verizon Wireless was a major promo sponsor. And to promote the return of new episode, the network used … you guessed it, Internet ads.
‘I Am Legend’ stakes out Unbox top spot
The Will Smith-starrer “I Am Legend” stands alone at the top of the Unbox video ratings, followed closely by the WWI weeper “Atonement.”
Order was restored as the remaining slots went to a trio of geeky guy-friendly titles.
Here are the top 5 sellers on the Amazon Unbox download video service, ranked as of early Sunday.
- “I Am Legend
” (Warner Bros.) rental price: $3.99
- “Atonement
” (Universal) $3.99
- “30 Days Of Night
” (Sony) $0.99
- “Resident Evil: Extinction
” (Sony) $0.99
- “Stargate: The Ark of Truth
” (MGM/Fox) $2.99
‘Juno’ DVD gives birth to digital copies
Plop in the disc, hit a prompt or two and you’ve got a copy of “Juno” ready for iPod or iTunes viewing. That was almost as easy as getting pregnant when you’re young, in lust and not even close to married.
The Hollywood studios are slow but not dumb. They finally figured out that tech-savvy users are going to get copies of hit movies onto their PCs and portables whether the copyright cops like it or not. Until the new year, that often meant grabbing an illicit version via BitTorrents or hacking the copyright protection on the DVD.
Starting with Fox’s release of “Blue Harvest” — the “Family Guy” spoof of “Star Wars” — the studios started trickling out digital copies of movies packaged with the standard DVD. The pace appears to be quickening.
In the case of this week’s DVD release of “Juno,”
Getting “Juno” onto my Pro Mac (Intel) with iTunes v. 7.6.2 took all of three minutes. The disc started up with a mighty whirling. A popup asked if I wanted to add the movie to iTunes. Sure. Another screen assured me a download was under way.
The movie appeared to download in about a minute, but there was no clear indication that had happened, other than a thumbnail image of the DVD cover that appeared under the Movies tab in the main Library. Double-clicked and the system asked if I wanted to authorize this computer to store the movie. Yep. Then it indicated two of five computer slots for the film had been used (presumably one for the desktop and another for the plugged in iPod).
“Juno” started up with with that familiar Fox studio drum intro … and pretty much looked like crap. That was at the full-screen setting for the monitor. Moved back about 5 feet and everything looked good enough for a full-length viewing, with allowances for softness and grain. The audio was clear and crisp, but nothing special, of course.
The smaller the screen space, the better it looked — as is the case with all computer video. So iPods have it easy in coming up with a sharp image.
The experience for Mac users should prove almost identical to renting or buying a movie off the iTunes Store — meaning hassle-free.
No doubt studios will use digital copies as marketing incentives. Sony’s upcoming DVD of Dolph Lundgren’s “Diamond Dogs,” for instances, has a digital copy as a “bonus copy,” but it wouldn’t work on the Mac. The sleeve says “Diamond Dogs” will work either as a PC or PSP transfer. At least it’s free. Get what you pay for dept.
Online video review: Adobe Media Player
The Adobe Media player, which just went public, looks like it’ll be a top-tier destination for mainstream online video — that is, sometime soon.
For now, there’s not much in the way of meaningful content you can’t get elsewhere — more reliably. And, the service appears to inspire a maddening amount of buffer activity.
As with Joost, you’ll have to download the Adobe Media Player application and run it when you want to use the service. The installation was quick and intuitive, with no passwords to deal with.
Content partners are mostly familiar: CBS, MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, PBS, Scripps Networks. Yep, that means no TV shows from NBC or Fox, which partner on the Web-based stremaing video site Hulu.
The Adobe Media Player looks and acts like a more sophisticated version of the Joost interface. The player is satisfying aesthetically — as in pretty cool and slick — and for the most part you don’t need help to get what you want. The viewing window is good, but not Hulu good. Joost looks absolutely clunky compared with the Adobe setup.After downloading the app, a four-part tutorial video pops up as an option. Say yes. It’s a clear all-business explanation of how to use the player and what to expect from it. More Media Player help can be found online.
Navigation is intuitive with a generous number of paths to a piece of content. The system sorts content in several ways: featured shows, by networks, by genres and new shows. You can subscribe to any series and have an icon represent the show on your first page.
Content is either streamed or downloaded. A yellow icon under the thumbnail image of the show means streaming only; green indicates downloads. The download queue can be fed with several videos at the same time.
You commit to content in two stages: by learning about the series on a pitch page, and then clicking on individual episodes. Episodes that have already been seen are displayed but the thumbnail indicates it’s been watched. A catch-up option keeps latecomers in synch with series, kind of like a DVR.
I found it easy to sample an episode, retreat to the directory and then move on to another without any kind of lag. This allowed for a lot of hassle-free sampling.
On the downside, I encountered repeated instances of fruitless buffering (on a Mac Pro running Leopard). Video sites rarely present a problem for me, even on the highest quality settings.
Lowering the quality via the preferences (as suggested in the tutorial) didn’t help. Trying to watch a video about meditation with repeated image smearing really blows that natural high. Also encountered some sped-up footage, as if I was fast-forwarding past a ED ad on TiVo.
Also encountered double-tracked audio and some weird cross-talk. A few other shows just refused to do anything. Feels like a beta, folks, but it’s only week 1.
Adobe apparently gets a cut from the content providers’ preroll ads, but doesn’t seem to add its own ads.
There is, however, prominent position give to a network with Adobe product videos, which are mostly tech types being cool-zippy on topics related to, say, Flash CS3. There’s “Photoshop User TV” “Understanding Adobe” “Photoshop for Video,” etc. I found some of the “xTrain” web developers shorts to be just OK. (On the useless side, there’s “After Hours at Adobe,” this one about someone playing disc golf.)
These tutorials are well produced and somewhat helpful if you’re new to the software being discussed. This content also streams at the new Adobe TV site, which offers one-click subscription to the topics on the Media Player.
The video app comes with a solid set of user-preference options. For example, select whether to have the system remember where you left off in a presentation. Under privacy, go with “Allow Measurement” of viewing patterns by Adobe (anonymous) … or not.
The system also functions as a CMS for personal videos on a user’s hard drive. These videos appear in the system like the professional content, with thumbnail images and all. Snazzy. I fooled around with the feature but couldn’t get it to work right away and wandered off.
TechCrunch points out that TV distributors’ geographical filtering hasn’t struck yet. Don’t get too gobsmacked, friends down under, that restriction probably is on the way.
Bottom line: Adobe Media Player deserves a visit now, and regular follow-ups to see if it’s up to speed yet. Lots of potential here, despite the locally based (on your computer) interface.
Report: Joost retreating to States
Joost, the online television service, has taken major blows from competitors in Britain and the States, and is “preparing for a major retrenchment,” London’s Times reports.
Hulu and the BBC’s iPlayer have been gobbling up programming rights and viewer numbers, at Joost’s expense. Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis created Joost, which operates off P2P technology.
The online video story doesn’t cite on-the-record sources or have much detail on which to base its conclusion that Joost “is expected to rein in its global ambitions to focus solely on the online market.”
Anyone on Joost’s email list can attest that the programming seems pretty thin. Today, for example, it’s featuring promos for “The Flash,” BET’s docu “American Gangster” and “Star Trek.” Joost did have rights to show Internet-only early rounds of March Madness basketball, but then many other online video sites. In Britain, Joost will face a scary new competitor in the Hulu-like video site Kangaroo, from the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV.
The Times says, however, that Joost probably won’t be closing anytime soon.
“There are too many egos involved,” said one former employee.