There really is no such thing a single medium anymore. The development of computer media has led to the rise of cross platform media. A TV company wants you to spend as much time on their website as they do watching their TV programs. So, to this end, they try to pack their websites with enough content so that you will do so.
With this, we’re taking a look at NBC’s website. NBC is viewed in the Fargo-Grand Forks-Moorhead market on KVLY Channel 11.
The front page of the NBC website has a strip across it showing the primetime schedule for that particular day. It also has a flash display that scrolls through some of the current prime time shows, which you can click and go to that shows main web page.
The main page, like most web sites these days, has invitations to follow the site on the most popular social media from Facebook to Youtube.
The front page also take you to some recent episodes of a number of show and what are known as “video extras.” This includes some things like Tina Fey as Liz Lemon from 30 Rock, giving a tour of her office. Unlike the CBS site, the main page does not take you to NBC’s considerable sports and news operations, but rather to video clips about news and sports stories, many taken from NBC’s news shows.
Many TV network websites take you archives of videos from recent and previous shows. You can get full access to many current NBC shows. There is also a selection of videos from older shows. Now, while some of these, like Quantum Leap and A-Team, are still pretty popular, a lot of the items in the video archive are from failed shows like Animal Practice and some cancelled shows, like Kings. Considering what NBC has had on TV in its glorious past, these are kind of slim pickings.
If NBC were taking suggestions about how to improve their website, there would be a few that we could make. The site’s access to the current stuff seems well done. NBC should try to get rights to some its genuine classics and get rid of some of the failed shows on its archives pages. NBC’s main should also take people to NBC’s considerable sports and news operations. Since NBC has a lock on The Olympics, maybe an Olympics page would be something to consider. It’s not a bad site, but for a major network, it could be better.
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