Increasing Brand Loyalty: A Quick Look at ABC.com

May 22, 2007

So, say you’re a fan of Lost… Now, assume you miss an episode of the show. You might, if you’re some fans, go crazy. Others, would watch it the next day on ABC.com.

I realize that this is an obvious and linear line of thought but bear with me. Just a little while ago you didn’t have that option, watching episodes of your favorite shows after airtime required downloading spotty or illegal copies.

So when I found out that I could watch shows online it meant that I didn’t have to plan my evenings around the shows I wanted to watch. (In the case of Lost I have to anyway since someone will want to talk about it the next day…) Once I started watching TV online I started giving other shows on the same network a chance simply because I could. To make a long story short I spent more time on their website than I had originally planned.

In any event, the point I want to make is that by increasing the usefulness of their website ABC has kept me longer than I had originally planned. This should be obvious but somehow it’s apparently not. People just aren’t catching on for one reason or another. The web plays a big part in brand loyalty these days. Once you have a product that people are using they become fans, assuming your product is performing as expected. When you have a large audience of people using your product happily it quickly expands into a larger user base. YouTube anyone?

ABC streams their video content free of charge, something that I’m thrilled about. But what happens if you’re a company that is typically part of a paid satellite or cable package? Does the same idea apply? Yes, maybe even more.

There have been a number of times that I wished I could watch a single channel from a package, I would have gladly paid a portion of the total to buy the single channel on its own but since cable companies aren’t setup to handle individual channels outside of a package (or weren’t when I was interested) it didn’t make a difference. With the internet involved it potentially cuts out the “middleman.” Your product is capable of being delivered to the end user on an individual basis whereas before they may have passed up the option to purchase your channel. I’m merely speaking in theory here because there are things that I haven’t taken into consideration such as exact contracts and licensing.

To bring the point to a close, the valuable lesson is the obvious one. Providing high quality content for your users, preferably exceeding their expectations in the process, increases their interest in your website and ultimately your company. Apply it to your own context along with a well thought out marketing scheme and you have a recipe for increased audience participation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I just found out that NBC.com is offering full episodes as well which means I can give Heroes a chance.

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