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–Enhances its Streaming Video Player
–Adds New Social Networking/User-Generated Video Tools to NBC.com
–Adds More Broadband Programming, Interactive Online Content

Broadcast network, NBC, has made a number of enhancements to NBC Rewind, the full-episode streaming video player it offers on its NBC.com Web site. The enhancements–many of which NBC says were determined by feedback from user focus groups held in February–include a larger format, features intended to enable easier navigation, and various interactive features. "We asked what our users wanted and did our best to give it to them," Vivi Zigler, EVP of NBC digital entertainment and new media, said in a prepared statement. "More and more consumers are streaming video on the Web and we intend to provide the best experience possible."

NBC Rewind’s new interactive features include 1) a companion window, in which background information, polls and trivia questions are presented to viewers as they watch a show; 2) the ability to select tailored pre-roll from advertisers; and 3) various chat options, such as the ability to invite other viewers to participate in online viewing parties: the parties can be open or closed, thus allowing viewers to interact with a viewing party of strangers or only with their own friends. The player also now features a full-screen experience that integrates a revised design and what NBC claims is "improved navigation that reduces clutter and highlights the viewing experience." According to the company, the player provides a higher quality video stream as a result of the enhancements.

NBC is also sharing some of the findings from the focus groups which resulted in the enhancements to the Rewind player (note: the groups were organized by Colen Research and Consulting, and were focused on 18-39 year-olds who were already familiar with full-episode streaming): according to the company, those findings include that the player is frequently being used in place of a DVR; and that younger viewers frequently watch full-length TV shows at work during a break.

In addition to revamping the site’s video player, NBC has added a number of social-networking and personalization tools to NBC.com. The site now allows users to 1) share NBC videos with their friends and post them on blogs and social-networking sites; 2) upload and share their own videos and photos; 3) create public profiles about themselves; 4) build fan groups around their favorite shows; 5) access community pages from their mobile phones; and 6) receive programming recommendations based on the opinions of like-minded viewers. The site also now allows users to register their preferences: according to NBC, it can "recognize" visitors and provide a more personalized experience. "We’re tailoring the site to better reflect how users are consuming entertainment today," Zigler explained. "By adding these tools, we’re allowing fans to create a community around our content, get to know each other, share their ideas and theories and simply have more fun."

In related news:

• NBC is making an array of original content available on NBC.com that is designed to supplement its late-night shows, "Saturday Night Live," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O’Brien," and "Last Call with Carson Daly." "Saturday Night Live" is being supplemented by a regular feature called "Backstage," which provides original behind-the-scenes videoclips from the show, hosted by producer Marci Klein. It also presents viewers with dual versions of various sketches from the show–one being the dress-rehearsal version and the other the broadcast version–as well as with sketches that were rehearsed but that never made it onto the show. In addition, NBC.com is inviting viewers to upload videos of themselves starring in "Saturday Night Live’s" regular news-parody sketch, "Weekend Update." "The Tonight Show" is being supplemented with, among other things, new weekly Webisodes and photo galleries of the "Jay Leno’s Garage" series; with behind-the-scenes segments hosted by "Tonight Show" personalities, John Melendez and Ross Matthews; and with content designed to complement the show’s "Toyota Summer Concert Series." "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" is being supplemented with, among other things, behind-the-scenes video, and with a new feature called "Late Night Underground." The latter houses such features as a "Ford Taurus Appreciation Club," a blog written by the show’s bandleader, Max Weinberg, and the full season of a parody series, entitled "Pale Force," starring O’Brien and Jim Gaffigan. Finally, "Last Call with Carson Daly" is being supplemented with a new behind-the-scenes series, called "All Access," that focuses on the bands featured on the show; as well as with interviews, blogs and photo galleries from the show’s staff and crew, and with regular live chats in which fans of the show are being invited to ask its producers and writers how they can break into television. NBC.com has also added new content to supplement the primetime shows, "The Office" and "30 Rock": "The Office Quotes Game" invites viewers to correctly identify the character responsible for a particular quote and the episode that quote appeared in, and rewards them with a video of the scene that contains the quote (note: NBC says that the game is based on an informal quote game that was being played by users of the message boards it offers in association with the show). In addition, Viewers are being to submit videoclips of themselves describing their funniest HR stories. And, to supplement "30 Rock," NBC has launched an online game based on a game within the show, called "Marry, Boff or Kill."
• NBC has announced some of the programs it plans to offer on NBC.com this summer. They include new seasons of the reality series, "America’s Got Talent" and "Last Comic Standing," and a new reality series that follows ex-Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham and her soccer-playing husband, David, as they start a new life in the US. According to NBC, "America’s Got Talent" will have a redesigned site within NBC.com that will feature online voting and exclusive video content; "Last Comic Standing" will also offer online voting and exclusive online video content–and, through a partnership with DotComedy.com, will provide viewers with uncensored audition video and outtakes; and the new Beckham series will offer supplemental video, photos and more.
• NBC has announced plans to expand the "TV 360" experience it offers to supplement its primetime series, "Heroes" (note: for an overview of NBC’s "TV 360" concept, see [itvt]’s interview with NBC’s director of interactive TV product development, Jon Dakss, in Issue 6.71). Among other things, it will offer an online graphic novel based on the show and written by a series of guest-writers; an SMS-based interactive TV application; WAP content; a Web-exclusive "Inside Heroes" video series, which it says will "go beyond the fourth wall to let viewers see the ‘making of’ the hit drama series, and what goes into producing the special effects, makeup, sound and much more"; and online "character video chronicles," which will follow one character’s storyline from the pilot through the season finale. In addition, in advance of "Heroes’" April 23rd return to the air, NBC is inviting viewers to submit videos of themselves outlining their theories about the enigmatic world around which the show centers. A selection of these viewer-submitted videos is now being used in on-air promos for the show. In addition, a new feature on NBC.com sees one of the show’s characters (Hana) inviting viewers to help her thwart another character’s (Linderman) plots. According to NBC, this "top-secret online activity will actually interact with the on-air story and will pay off in the Monday, April 23rd episode."
• NBC is also trumpeting the apparent success of the current implementation of "Heroes360," which represents the first time that the TV360 concept was applied to a scripted series. According to the broadcaster, the "Heroes" Web site, which includes message boards, synched cast commentaries, a two-screen application with pop-ups, and an interactive novel, generated over 48 million page views and seven million uniques, and delivered over 27 million video streams, over 20 million of which were in NBC Rewind. "Heroes360" launched in January on a number of platforms, including the Web and mobile. The campaign features a number of non-NBC branded sites that relate to places and themes in the show, including http://www.primatechpaper.com, http://www.corinthianlasvegas.com, www.9thwonders.com and http://www.samantha48616e61f.com; several WAP sites, including one for "Heroes" and one for "Primatech Paper"; SMS interactivity; and an interactive phone tree (1-800-PRIMA16). As of the first week of March, the "Heroes" WAP site had generated over 200,000 page views, while the "Primatech Paper" WAP site had generated over 150,000.

Originally Published: April 16, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.26 Part 3

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