Zoom-in Online

Everyone's talking about the NBC deal with News Corp, touting it as the "largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled."

AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! are the partners, under the theory the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend, they've pooled their resources to form an alternative distribution network to YouTube/Google.

Longtime YouTube critic Mark Cuban, thinks it's brilliant.

Union Square Ventures VC and popular blogger Fred Wilson can't resist telling us he'll be trying the NBC solution out pre-launch, and states the obvious: that the presentation of the content should be focused on user interactivity, not content availability.

When it comes to online media, the word "engagement" is so overused that it's become meaningless. Advertisers request it in every RFP we see. Brand managers and marketers ask for it as a knee-jerk response, whenever they are confronted with the question of what will define "success" for an online campaign. And audiences clearly value the experience more when they have a chance to participate, share or interact with the content in any non-passive way.

So, if everyone wants 'engagement', why is it so hard to achieve? And will NBC --with their bold claims of this deal building a "game changer for Internet video"-- succeed in pulling it off?

At Zoom In Online, we've been examining TV programmers' online strategies very closely all year. The group we've been most impressed with works within the NBC family of networks; it's a programming/marketing team that's executing truly innovative web strategies that both support and enhance viewers' experience of their broadcast programming.

That group is Bravo. I'll be posting later this week as to why we feel that way, and what they are doing that other programmers --and anyone interested in online content, for that matter-- could learn from.

In the meantime, check out their site yourself.