Why Conan O'Brien Should Jump to the Internet • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Conan O'Brien Should Jump to the Internet

#21

Post by saturdayplace » Wed, Jan 20, 2010, 8:45 PM UTC

steveklabnik wrote: post #14

mbreese wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are in a very small minority. I think the better question is: do your parents? I'm ten years out of college, and while I am able to connect my computer to my TV to watch Hulu, etc, it isn't a permanent setup. I have the cables in place to just plug things in, but only on the TV in my living room. My bedroom TV is capable, but I don't have the cables in place. Conan has a pretty broad fan base. He's been doing thi…

My parents don't have cable. My dad watches Steeler games, my mom watches Dancing with the Stars, and they occasionally watch the morning news. That's it. The friends I speak of range from 18-35. > Not only that, but the setup has to be permanent and drop-dead simple. I'm not sure what's hard about Boxee, Netflix over the XBox, or even just having a computer hooked up to a television in general. It's not like there's…

> I'm not sure what's hard about Boxee, Netflix over the XBox, or even just having a computer hooked up to a television in general.

It's not hard, it's just that most people (ie. NBC's giant[1] audience) already have something that works for them in the plop-on-the-couch-surf-with-remote area. They aren't yet looking for ways to watch internet video on their TVs. And even if Conan's fan base is setup for IPTV, advertisers haven't yet bought into the small engaged audience as a viable demographic.

[1] Giant relative to Rev3's.

Re: Why Conan O'Brien Should Jump to the Internet

#22

Post by saturdayplace » Wed, Jan 20, 2010, 8:50 PM UTC

opoloqo wrote: post #9

jerhinesmith wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't do any of those things and I'm only 5 years out of college. Does that mean I'm old? Either way, I think there's still something to be said for just watching 'tv' in the historical definition. My guess is that you and your acquaintances are still in a very small minority (though I'd be happy to be proved wrong as I'm not entirely happy with my cable service provided).

re: small minority. Yesterday I was sitting in a dark old-timer bar in MT and heard two of the old salts telling some younger guys (mid-40s) about the wonder of Netflix. I am experiencing this more and more with people. Just a short matter of time.

> Just a short matter of time.

Obviously, in Conan's case NBC has proven that they're not willing to wait for any reasonably short time period when trying out new things. I'm betting the reason that's the case is because advertisers aren't either. Until the advertising dollar moves onto the Internet, it's not going to make sense for a Conan to do the same.

I agree that it's a matter of time before we stop talking about IPTV as something new or separate from TV, but that timeframe isn't going to be determined as much by consumers (your old salts) as it is by the advertisers.

Re: Why Conan O'Brien Should Jump to the Internet

#23

Post by mbreese » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 3:34 AM UTC

opoloqo wrote: post #18

mbreese wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of that is original IPTV content? In this context, pulling things down from bittorrent doesn't count.

IPTV is not part of my vocabulary. Bittorrent is a pain. I use netflix, ted, fora.tv, youtube, vimeo and whatever else percolates into my spectrum of social content aggregators, google reader, facebook.

IPTV / Internet TV / basically Revision 3 style content with defined shows that come out on a somewhat regular schedule.

Re: Why Conan O'Brien Should Jump to the Internet

#24

Post by opoloqo » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 4:49 AM UTC

mbreese wrote: post #12

steveklabnik wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm admittedly in the "young kid just out of college" demographic, but I'm not sure I know anyone who doesn't just use their TV as a big monitor, or has an AppleTV with Boxee, or doesn't own a TV and watches Hulu on their laptop. And isn't this Conan's core fanbase anyway? I'm not saying it wouldn't be a risky move, but history rewards the bold.

You are in a very small minority. I think the better question is: do your parents? I'm ten years out of college, and while I am able to connect my computer to my TV to watch Hulu, etc, it isn't a permanent setup. I have the cables in place to just plug things in, but only on the TV in my living room. My bedroom TV is capable, but I don't have the cables in place. Conan has a pretty broad fan base. He's been doing thi…

My parents walk on the treadmill and watch documentaries on Netflix, daily.