Do People Really Want Premium Content on the Web?

This entry was posted December 23rd, 2009 and has 2 comments.

I have been thinking a lot lately about premium content on the web. Initially, I dismissed the developments by companies like AOL and Demand Media to create mass amounts of timely and mostly disposable content as trite and completely uninspired. The more I think about it, though, the important question isn’t whether this content will be premium (it won’t), but whether people even want premium content on the web.

What is premium content anyway?

Let’s look at an offline example first.

This past Saturday during the blizzard, I watched nearly all of season 3 of The Wire. This is some of the most inspired, well-written, intelligent television ever created. The Wire is premium content at it’s finest. What The Wire was not, however, was quick, easy, or cheap to produce. Additionally, while the show has developed a sizable cult following in recent years, it was not instantly popular or loved by a mass audience. In the same way that The Wire was not easy or quick to produce, it also wasn’t always easy to watch or digest for some people. Watching this show took a desire to pay attention and a certain commitment to be emotionally involved in each episode for a full 60 minutes. It also required a subscription to a premium TV channel.

On the other end of the television content spectrum, are countless garbage shows that millions of people watch every week. But why? Why do we watch these shows? Just like they are cheap and easy to produce and have mass appeal, these shows offer a simple, cheap viewing experience. We don’t become invested in the characters and when the show ends we don’t care what happens to these people. Cheap television gives us a quick laugh, an escape from real life and doesn’t ask anything more from us.

So what does any of this have to do with the web? Well, just like HBO struggled to keep The Wire on air as long as it did, content producers on the web are struggling to monetize their work and keep their sites alive and profitable. Right now there is a chasm developing between sites like WSJ and Reuters who want to charge for premium content and producers like AOL and Demand Media who are focused on churning out cheap content, ad nauseum. And somewhere in the middle are news sites, entertainment sites, and bloggers who are trying to eek out a living based on the ever-eroding CPM.

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Posted in the internet

My Favorite Albums of 2009

This entry was posted December 16th, 2009 and has no nomments.

The annual favorite-albums-of-the-year post is always the most fun to work on. Not only does it lend itself to lots of discussion and arguments, but I always discover albums that I overlooked during the past year. I hate ranking albums, but have attempted to do so below. All of these are great and worth listening to. Special shout-out to Amy who set-up a Google Wave for a bunch of people to discuss their top albums of the year lists. This was the best use of Wave I have seen to this point and it was a lot of fun to see other people’s lists.

My favorite albums of 2009:

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

David Bazan - Curse Your Branches

Wye Oak - The Knot

Husband & Wife - Dark Dark Woods

Continue reading My Favorite Albums of 2009

Posted in music

Google Announces Real-Time Search

This entry was posted December 8th, 2009 and has 1 comment.

Yesterday, Google announced that they were introducing real-time search. Essentially this means that Google results pages will now include information from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. as these updates are being posted. While Bing has already been including real-time information in their search results, it’s always big news when the market leader introduces a feature.

Perhaps the most important thing to note is that Google real-time search will differ from Twitter’s own search in that it will apply Google’s technology to deliver relevant results. This is key. It’s not just about delivering the latest updates, but about delivering the most relevant results to users. Google’s success has always and will always hinge on delivering the most relevant information possible.

I want to spend some time using real-time search before offering my full thoughts on it. In the meantime, Wired gives more details and insights on real-time search as well as some of the other products Google has announced recently. You can also read Google’s official statements about the need for real-time search coupled with Google technology.

Google’s example of how Real-Time Search functions:

Posted in marketing, technology

Expanding What I Do on ChrisWalbert.com

This entry was posted December 8th, 2009 and has no nomments.

Since I started writing on ChrisWalbert.com a few years ago, I have been focused on only providing original content that was interesting to me and hopefully interesting to anyone who was reading. There is so much disposable content on the web and I don’t ever want this site to fall into that category. While I think I have accomplished this goal, it has also been an impediment to sharing fresh content on a regular basis.

So, in that vain, I want to add to what I do here. The main focus of ChrisWalbert.com will always be for this to be a place to explore ideas and get feedback from others who are interested in the same things. Sometimes, however, another writer has already covered a topic in great detail and this blog will simply be used to share those posts.

Whether it is a post written by me or a link to another post, my goal will still be to provide content that is interesting today, but could also be interesting six months later.

Don’t worry. I will not be posting any Tiger Woods stories.

Here’s an example of the type of content I hope to share.

Posted in Chris Walbert