NYC TV stations

I compared ABC, NBC and CBS television station web sites in NYC. Here’s what you should know:

ABC: There is an overwhelming amount of content and choices on this web site. Consider the home page. Way too many options. The flashing stock ticker steals all the attention. The site has plenty to read and little to do. It’s redeemed by two community-orientated features; a slide show featuring pictures of their viewer’s pets and a community event calendar that uses viewer submissions. Nice touch.

Visible Revenue Model: Pay per click, banners, rich media, and yahoo search affiliate, site sponsorships.

NBC: While the web site is content-heavy, it’s well organized. The site filled with examples of new media put to good use. Their blog allows comments. They bring in RSS feeds into the site.

Visible Revenue Model: Banner Ads and sponsored content. Their affiliate program is well executed in the marketplace section. It comes across as a resource and functions as a revenue generator.

CBS: The most innovative of the sites I compared, CBS does an excellent job integrating their affiliate and local advertisers with their web content. Scroll to the bottom of the page. The ‘From Our Partners,” section exemplifies ways to bring advertising into a site without frustrating our user experience. On the far left column, click on the word ‘fashion.’ Treat yourself to a perfectly executed, advertiser sponsored micro-site. This illustrates how an advertiser should become a source of insight online. Nice job guys.

WCBS Gets New Media.