Didja Hear NBC is Taking on YouTube?

You've heard about the mysterious video venture that NBC and News Corp are launching as a frontal assault on YouTube, but it appears now that it's a multi-pronged effort. According to a Variety article published today, NBC is launching Didja.com, an "all-advertising" site.

Didja stutter? No, I said an "all-advertising" site.

I'm not sure if I even need to keep writing this post, because you don't have to be a crystal-ball gazer to figure out how this is going to turn out. According to Variety, the site:

Will offer a vast archive of current and classic TV spots, movie trailers and other "brand-related content." USA-Sci Fi Channel prexy Bonnie Hammer said the goal is to "become the go-to destination for on-demand advertising content."

The intent behind the site? Variety continues:

"Didja.com is the logical next step in the changing dynamic between consumers and advertisers," Hammer said. "There's no doubt that commercials are major drivers of pop culture -- all you have to do is check out traffic on any video-sharing site. We want to own that watercooler conversation."

Actually, go to YouTube right now and see how many commercials or movie trailers are in the top viewed videos... there aren't many. In fact, when I took a cursory glance at the top 50 viewed videos of all time on YouTube, there was one movie trailer and I didn't see any ads. Most of the content, in fact, was music videos, clips from TV shows, and some user generated content.

NBC also isn't the first company to start a site around this idea. Variety points out that TBS launched VeryFunnyAds.com, and another site called adTV offers similar content. The fact that anyone could call this a YouTube competitor is laughable, and if Didja is a sign of the type of competition that YouTube will be facing from the joint NBC/News Corp venture, I think YouTube is going to have a very bright future for quite a while.

Link via MIT Convergence Culture Consortium.

Comments

[Cam Beck]

Take one look at that Flash placeholder and you'll see it's pretty clear that the site is going to be a case study in narcissism.

I believe that's what advertisers call "viral marketing."

[Sonya]

I watch a lot of commercials online, but I've found the best way to find quality is by going to advertising awards sites: another alternative.