CNET returns to web TV roots

That company was CNET Networks and, as the web took off, along with several of its online investments, the company diverted its attention to the digital world. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now the UK's largest online publisher, CNET Networks has turned its attention back to broadcasting, but this time on the web. In fact, it began three years ago, when cnet.co.uk and some of its business sites started to introduce video into their news and features sections.

According to Geoff Inns, business development director at CNET Networks, this persuaded the company that the public wanted video content.

Research from comScore backs him up: its video metrics report found that 80 per cent of the UK online population is watching video on the web and spending ten per cent of their time online doing so.

But this doesn't mean we're all happy to accept the homemade grainy videos often found on YouTube; the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported in July that 62 per cent of online video viewers prefer online videos that are "professionally produced" over amateur productions.

"So looking at the research, recognising that we're a leader in original content and that over the past two to three years we had proven our video credentials, we felt the time was right to deliver the next phase of our original video content online. For us, that was CNET TV," says Inns.

Standalone brand

In the US, the company already has a CNET TV site. But Inns is at pains to stress that the UK site is different: "CNET TV in the US is an extension of the cnet.com brand and it produces an awful lot of video content around its core subject of technology," he explains.

"What we're doing is completely different; our site is a standalone brand and although it's a home for content we create for our other brands, it's also an opportunity for us to produce new video in areas where we don't have any supporting brands - such as music, film and TV."

Content on the site is evenly split between video from other CNET brands and CNET TV-generated productions. It's possibly this fluidity - and the fact CNET had already invested a six-figure sum in a three-camera, high-definition studio last year - that helped CNET TV get off the ground so quickly.

Inns says the company had been mulling over the idea for "around a year", but it was only in spring 2007 when these ideas began to take a more concrete shape that the company threw its weight behind CNET TV and invested in extra staff and new programmes.

Ben Howard joined the company in October 2006 as head of video with a remit to grow the department and its output. "There was always talk of doing an aggregated video channel, but we were not sure of the form," he recalls.

"As we talked about it, we thought it would be great to have a home for CNET Networks content but also to have a platform where we could produce unique online original programming. CNET TV grew out of that."

CNET TV remains true to the company's roots in that its programme makers are as passionate about the subject they're presenting as their audience. "The kind of stuff we steered clear of was material that was either too mainstream or too obvious," he says. "If it was the first idea that came into our heads, it was probably not the right idea."

Howard - with the team of four producers he employed for CNET TV - bashed out ideas in brainstorming sessions working on the basis of: "What content would we, as film and music fans, want to see?"

Finding the right producers was one of the toughest challenges CNET faced. "The key thing was to go out and find people from a broadcast background, because it was important we brought broadcast production values to what we're doing," Howard says.

It was also important that they were familiar with working in a web environment and passionate about their subject - whether music, entertainment, technology or gaming.

One of the core principles underlying CNET TV is that programmes are produced to the same professional standard that you'd find offline.

"We film everything in high definition, even though we're not yet streaming in high definition," says Howard.

One notable difference from mainstream TV is that programmes are short. "People are still 'snacking' on web content in five to ten minute pieces," explains Howard. "So we're not producing much content lasting 30 to 60 minutes, because we feel the audience is not ready for it yet. But this will change with the convergence of platforms."

New platforms

At this stage, CNET TV has also decided that it won't be letting other online broadcasters - such as Joost or Apple TV - embed its content in their sites, preferring to become a destination site in its own right. This might change in the future though: "We're looking into platforms and it'll be interesting to see which technologies take off," says Howard.

"YouTube kicked down the door in terms of online video, but how we then get it into people's living rooms remains to be seen."

Perhaps another reason for the organisation's position is that it could reduce the advertising opportunity on CNET TV if content can be found elsewhere on the web.

Computer manufacturer HP signed up as CNET TV's launch advertiser for the first two months to promote The Dragon, its high-end entertainment laptop and a good match with the site's gaming and tech-savvy community.

It's the first time HP has sponsored an internet TV channel in the UK but, says Tariq Ahmed, UK PR manager for HP's Personal Systems Group: "The HP team in France did something very similar and it was extremely successful, so we are confident that we will get similar results in the UK."

CNET's sales teams began talking to media agencies and advertisers about five weeks before the site launched. MindShare was one of the agencies that CNET TV approached.

"For us, this opens another kind of format," says Claire Valoti, business director at MindShare Interaction. "For a while, the industry has been quite static in terms of what formats are available to us. But having pre-rolls and post-rolls opens up another mechanism to communicate with our target audience. It's still early days, but where online TV could become more interesting is not just from a branding point of view but also direct response."

For CNET, the hope is that CNET TV will be a catalyst for video advertising across its brands. At the moment, advertisers have the choice of pre-rolls before shows or standard banner advertising on the CNET TV site. "Next year, we will continue to review other advertising places around video; YouTube's overlay approach is an interesting one to look at, for instance," says Inns.

As the site grows and the number of channels expands, he expects advertisers to move away from total site sponsorship towards more granular sponsorship of a channel or even a specific show.

When it comes to making the programmes, the entire process is managed in-house at CNET, with help from a few freelancers where necessary. In fact, says Howard, "one of the interesting things we've learnt during the process is how to create video brands," having only created website brands before.

CNET has a team of ten video producers, but only four work exclusively on CNET TV. "We call them producers but they're out there scripting content, filming it and quite often editing it as well, although we have an editing resource on the team," explains Howard.

"The people we've hired really enjoy that, because they can stretch their legs and have ownership over a project." There's also a production co-ordinator to ensure the site is updated with a new piece of content every day.

The site launched with 65 pieces of original programming, which were created up to three weeks before going live to ensure the content felt fresh. As well as content from other CNET sites, there are also music videos, and film and games trailers on CNET TV.

Launch reaction

In the aftermath of the launch, CNET Networks is closely analysing and measuring audience reactions to its channels. "One of the key things we've developed is a measurement technology, so we're not just watching how many times a video is viewed, but drop-off times as well," says Howard. The broadcaster also wants to hear what viewers want to see more of - whether new channels or subject matter - because this year the focus will be on expanding the site's content.

Early engagement figures of 80 per cent suggest that it has got the balance right so far. But CNET hopes to develop this further with greater interactivity and community features on the site.

 "We already have Facebook and Digg buttons under the video player, but we're talking about adding things like a blog so we can create a community aspect around the programmes we're making," he continues.

CNET's long-term commitment to internet TV is evident in its investment in two on-site, fully-equipped studios (a second is being built) and ten full-time video staff. But Inns is convinced the investment will be worthwhile. "CNET TV will be profitable in its first year and all our video operations will be profitable this year," he reveals.

Profitable or not, the future certainly looks interesting for this ambitious and innovative media publisher.

"The thing about CNET is that we're not afraid to fail. Otherwise you never improve," says Inns. Having already dabbled in TV once, let's hope it learned from any mistakes it made the first time round, back in the 1990s.

CNET'S TIPS FOR LAUNCHING A NET TV CHANNEL

- Make sure you hire the right people - capitalise on the generation of producers out there who are multi-skilled in all areas of production.

- It's also important the people you hire are a good cultural fit with your organisation - we needed people who didn't just have the right skills but were really passionate about what they were doing.

- Take your production values seriously - it might be web TV but if you want it to be taken seriously, you need to embody the production values of traditional TV.

- You need a very slick, well-organised production team, which was why we brought on board a production co-ordinator to manage the team and schedule more effectively. We wanted to echo the experience we had from working in production companies before, and bring some of that culture to the way we work in a new-media environment.

- Decide what your USP is - CNET Networks has brands covering different subject matters, but what unites us is that they're all staffed by people who are genuinely excited about what they're doing. So on CNET TV it was important for us to have people writing, producing and presenting the shows who loved their subject matter; we didn't want presenters just reading off autocue.

- Listen to your audience and make sure the content you're producing is relevant. At end of the day, if the content is right and you are entertaining, an audience will come to your site.

- Think carefully about what makes good video - we've nailed down five values that we now apply to every video we make. Keeping those objectives in mind, we think we're raising the bar for publishers moving into the video space.

A SHORT HISTORY OF INTERNET TV

Whether you call it IPTV, web TV, internet or online TV, there's no disputing that the video delivered via a broadband connection is growing up. But exactly how far has it come?

1995: ABC's World News Now programme broadcasts the first television show over the web. Viewers needed an internet connection and videoconferencing software from CU-SeeMe to access the newscast.

1997: Microsoft buys WebTV Networks to give consumers easy-to-use access to the internet via their TV.

1999: Kingston Communications in the UK launchs KIT, an interactive television service, to viewers in Kingston upon Hull. One of the world's first triple-play options, customers could receive digital television, video-on-demand, internet, email and web-based local information via their TVs.

2005: YouTube launches and 18 months later, Google buys the site that drove a user-generated content phenomenon for $1.65bn (£800m).

2006: The creators of Skype and Kazaa, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, begin developing Joost, which they call "the world's first broadcast-quality internet television service". It launches in May 2007 offering content syndicated from programme makers such as Endemol, Viacom and Warner Brothers Television Group.

2007: In January, Channel 4 becomes the first UK broadcaster to offer video on demand with its 4degD service; in March, Apple TV - a set-top box that takes content from a PC or Mac and displays it on a TV - launches, and is followed in August by Apple's video download service; in July BBC launches the iPlayer, which lets users download programmes from the broadcaster and more than 120,000 people download it in the first week; in November, 'Project Kangaroo' launches from BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 to provide an all-encompassing web-based platform for video-on-demand content.

2008 and beyond. Many unanswered questions surrounding internet TV still remain: who will be the online broadcasters of the future? How will viewers pay for content? What advertising opportunities does internet TV offer?