From Dave Gardy's Streaming Media Club on Yahoo!
THE PHILOSOPHY OF NARROWCASTING AS IT RELATES TO THE WEB
The term narrowcasting has for at least twenty years been used in television vernacular for various applications relating to conventional, non-interactive, full screen video transmission to targeted audiences (e.g. hispanic community broadcasts in Washington, DC). Although envisioned by television and cable broadcasters for years, most conventional narrowcast business models, in the past, have been hampered by geographic and technology limitations in economically reaching audiences of sufficient size. However, using the web for narrowcasting is relevant, because inherently the web is a ?target? or ?narrow? market medium geared to the interactive participation of individuals or groups of users. Although there have been efforts to use the web for mass distribution ?broadcast? purposes (i.e., Victoria?s Secret), the limited available bandwidth and slow evolution of multi-casting on the web and the continued development of HDTV and ?digital television? in the broadcast realm will ensure the dominance of broadcast distribution of video in the conventional cable and television arena for the foreseeable future.
It is interesting to note that the Bell Atlantic and GTE experiments with on-demand digital television in the early 90?s were supposed to create the ultimate personalized and interactive television experience. These experiments failed to yield the desired results not because of economic or technical viability, but moreover because the target market was the traditional broadcast viewer who was satisfied with a passive, less interactive role, as long as there was selection and entertainment quality. Internet users are by their very nature an entirely different audience, engaging the web in proactive personalized searches for specific information, interacting through chat and e-commerce, and willing to view (what at the moment is) lesser quality video streaming, if the content is compelling and customized to them as members of niche communities, especially in the case of live events .
With cost-effective distribution worldwide, the web has evolved as the ultimate medium for video narrowcasting in a variety of formats that TVW has researched and identified. Some of these formats with both existing and hypothetical example target narrowcast channels include:
Worldwide Niche Market Narrowcasting: Narrowcasting to members of a specific special interest, industry sector, technical discipline or religious or political groups. (i.e.figure- skating enthusiasts);
Worldwide Demographic Narrowcasting: Narrowcasting to very specific demographic audience segments with highly-targeted content (i.e., Semi-retired senior males, age 54-65);
Worldwide Niche/Demographic Narrowcasting: Narrowcasting to a cross section of both groups, (i.e. disabled Catholic seniors over 55, interested in an interactive Mass on the web);
Regional Narrowcasting: Geographic concentration for a Metropolitan Area (i.e. community action efforts such as the Washington D.C. Interactive Philanthropy Summit);
Regional Niche/Demographic Narrowcasting: Narrowcasting just to a niche within a metropolitan area?s large special interest group or demographic. (i.e. Colorado?s skiing community); and
Multi-regional Narrowcasting: Narrowcasting with a large database of programs for many different regions. (i.e. Community shopping available in every MSA district across the U.S. by selecting the region to find videos and discounts from merchants just in that MSA district.).
The key in assessing the viability of any narrowcast market for the [business]model is to appraise the community potential as it relates to the niche or demographic, psychographic, business/industry or special interest audience. The optimum target is an audience too small for a feasible television or cable application, but large enough worldwide or regionally to serve an anticipated one million community members. An appropriate term that has evolved to represent this narrrowcast concept is ?microcable?. |
