A Silicon Valley start-up is trying to develop a new formula for success on the Internet, one that treats a World Wide Web site like a fledgling TV network.
The EnterMedia Network Co. of Sunnyvale, Calif., has launched a Web site (EMNetwork.com) that broadcasts programs on a set schedule, rather than the traditional Internet approach of providing material on demand. Produced mainly by other companies, the programs combine audio, photographs and simple animation with a chat service and polls.
Another TV-like feature is the advertisements–30-second spots, not the familiar strips across the top or bottom of the screen.
The company’s site reflects two trends that are subtly changing the Web, adding new features and supplanting some familiar ones.
The Internet remains largely a hurly-burly of spontaneous interactions controlled mainly by its users, yet a small but growing number of Web sites are starting to broadcast audio and video programming on set schedules as a way to conserve Internet capacity. “It’s growing exponentially,” said Daniel Fortune, executive producer of Starlight Networks, a Mountain View, Calif., company that makes software for broadcasting on the Internet.
Meanwhile, companies that try to support their Web sites with advertisements are finding that the usual forms aren’t working well, prompting a search for new ways to make money. One way that has proven effective, analyst Ross Rubin of Jupiter Communications said, is to integrate the advertisements into the programming, as EnterMedia plans to do.
Although other Web sites broadcast audio and video events, EnterMedia officials say the interactive elements set their site apart. Still, analysts and company officials agree that the key to EnterMedia’s success will be attracting good programming–the same factor that makes or breaks a TV network.
EnterMedia is a privately held company started in March 1997 by three former members of Creative Laboratories’ strategic business division in Milpitas, Calif. When that company–maker of the popular SoundBlaster sound card–decided not to use an idea they developed for interactive broadcasting, the three launched EnterMedia.
The company has developed a standards-based approach to interactive broadcasting that uses proprietary technology to synchronize and distribute its elements. Russ Lujan, EnterMedia’s executive vice president, said revenues will come from production fees paid by programmers and a share of advertising revenues.
So far, the network has only five programs, all music-oriented, that will repeat throughout the week. These include performances from the House of Blues in Los Angeles–starting with The Cure, a gothic British band known for blue moods, not blue notes–and an hourlong musical variety show hosted by Todd Rundgren, a pop-music icon who has shifted from music to multimedia.
The network has but two sponsors so far: a CD store and a software company that makes an electronic telephone assistant.
Lujan and James B. Herrera, the company’s chief executive, said the programming lineup will grow in stages, beginning in midsummer. The company also plans to begin a second, business-related channel later this year.
Lujan said the company works with programmers and publishers in three ways: They can develop shows for the EnterMedia Web site, they can develop shows hosted by EnterMedia under their own brand or they can use EnterMedia’s technology to develop interactive broadcasts for their own Web sites.
Al Lill, vice president and research director for the Gartner Group, said most Web sites that are broadcasting or planning to broadcast offer visitors far more choices. EnterMedia’s programming will have to be “just unbelievably compelling” for the company to succeed, he said.
Rubin, a group director for Jupiter, noted that Broadcast.com Inc. (broadcast.com) and Pseudo Programs Inc. (pseudo.com) offer multiple live channels of audio and video, and Pseudo adds a chat feature. He added, “Most people have been taking a hybrid approach where there will be live events . . . but also traditionally they have archived shows so you can call them up after the fact.”
The look and feel of EnterMedia’s site is much different from that of the Broadcast.com and Pseudo programs. It puts all its elements–video, audio, chat and polling–onto one screen, making it easier for users to combine those experiences. That combination, after all, is what makes music over the Internet different from radio.
Unlike the other sites, it also is eschewing full-motion video, a format that doesn’t translate well to the Internet without a high-speed cable modem or similar connection. Still, the EnterMedia site requires a modicum of computing horsepower, namely a 28.8 kilobit-per-second modem and a computer equipped with either a Pentium or PowerPC processor.
The key to EnterMedia’s plan, Herrera said, is its approach to advertising, which makes sense to both advertising agencies and programmers. That approach is drawing programming to the company’s Web site, which should attract visitors–the ultimate determinant of success or failure on the Web.
“I definitely think this is an intriguing idea,” said analyst Julia R. Pickar of Zona Research in Redwood City, Calif. “It’s going to be all about their relationships,” she added–preferably, relationships with well-established companies with popular brands.
