Watching the Net

Joseph Laszlo | August 16, 2006, 03:59 PM

While the net's been buzzing with the non-news that YouTube wants to offer music videos for...FREE!...(something that you can only find at AOL Music, Yahoo's Launch, MTV, and probably 8 other places right now), more interesting is that CBS is taking a page out of ABC's book, and will be next-day streaming something like 1/3 of its prime time lineup online, for free.

When we asked, consumers showed some interest in full-length TV shows online, though unsurprisingly shorter-form content still dominates in terms of most watched online video genres. Of course, if the viewership was likely to be huge, there'd be much more trepidation about cannibalization of the TV audience. Online video today means you can make some small but positive ancillary revenues, generate some buzz, and maybe generate a few incremental TV viewers. But the TV remains a FAR better experience than streamed video is likely to be anytime soon.

The LA Times suggests that CBS's affiliate relationships already include some ad revenue sharing for online delivery, so it should be relatively smooth sailing there...also rather pointless but fun is that CBS is using the "Boss Button" it intro'd during March Madness to facilitate workplace viewing (click a button onscreen and the video vanishes, replaced with some kind of spreadsheet).

With two on board, it's only a matter of time before NBC follows suit now. And hopefully the CW will too, so that I never risk missing an episode of Veronica Mars again.