New App Stores On Web, TV Draw Interest from Content Owners
Media companies are working on new applications for Web browsers and other platforms as the popularity of mobile “apps” is spreading online and to the TV, Internet industry executives said. Some see the forthcoming Web application stores such as Google’s Chrome Web Store as a way to find more revenue from their online content, they said. “Publishers will be very keen to get involved in this,” said Alex Vlasto, vice president of marketing at Alot.com, which is developing a Web browser app bar, similar to a toolbar. “It will simply be another channel to distribute their content, and importantly a channel where … they can have an opportunity to charge for content,” he said.
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The new app platforms will give media companies a chance to develop new user interfaces for their online content, executives said. Through new programming tools such as HTML 5, software developers can provide a much richer experience through apps than on traditional websites, said Ryan Massie, executive vice president of Clicker.com, which developed an HTLM 5 site for Chrome of its online video indexing product. “You can do a lot of things now in browsers that in the past would have taken a full download of an application,” he said. “Everything is moving to the cloud and the browser is becoming the place where you manage applications.” And as more new TV sets incorporate Internet connectivity, companies will increasingly develop applications better suited for that screen, he said. “Just like 10 years ago when people started developing mobile interfaces for their websites, we're thinking we'll have to start doing the same if people are accessing us through their televisions."
Media content owners have been very interested in developing applications for Google’s Chrome Web Store which will be introduced later this year, said Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, senior product manager for the store. He said they're attracted to Chrome’s large and growing user base, the new capabilities of designing in HTML 5 and the opportunity to develop new business models based on subscription revenue or sole-sponsorship of content through the store. “People are looking at this as an opportunity across all types of content,” he said. Google expects media companies, news organizations, games developers and other content publishers to develop apps for the platform, said Brian Rakowski, director of product management for the Google Chrome team.
Media companies are also applications for Web-connected TV sets to take advantage of the popular consumer behavior of browsing the Internet while watching TV, said Russ Schafer, senior director of marketing at Yahoo’s Connected TV group. On sets equipped with Yahoo’s technology, two kinds of applications get the most use -- frequent check-in applications that provide news and weather updates, and media applications that allow viewers to watch traditional TV programming, he said. And last week Google announced programmers including CNBC, the NBA and HBO would have apps on its new Google TV platform.
The type and amount of programming that content owners make available to these platforms may vary, said Clicker’s Massie. At programmers’ request, Clicker’s online video indexing system can limit access to certain programs based on where the viewer is watching it, he said. “We have a very good process for turning off sources … we can turn off sources if someone is accessing us via their phone or the Web or television,” he said.
But programmers should be cautious about limiting access on these new platforms too strictly, Vlasto said. “If you're basically saying to people ’the only way you can consume this content is via Hulu.com or our TV station’, that’s really narrow minded, and I think they'll end up shooting themselves in the foot,” he said. He predicted that programmers will be more open with their programming in the future as new online storefronts facilitate easier payments from viewers and advertisers.