Bittorrent and Brand names

posted on March 21, 2006 in

I’ve noticed that a few shows are starting to get a big following because of Bittorrent. Some have asked if Bittorrent is the “wave of the future” for content.

I certainly enjoy Battlestar Galactica, and I did enjoy the new episodes of Doctor Who that I watched last night (both of which have been distributed heavily by a Bittorrent-enabled fan base).

But it works for them because they have an existing brand name. Small, independent offerings don’t have 30-40 years of brand awareness to build up on. I watched Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who when I was a kid. I didn’t bother to watch the new Battlestar Galactica, until I saw recommendations from others that it was much better. So now I watch.

But some random show, let’s call it “Space and Time” that I’ve never seen - it would take a significant word-of-mouth “rah rah rah” kind of cheerleading to get me to go to Bittorrent and download and watch it. Much more than it took for me to watch BG or DW.

I think its still about the brand - a well-known brand name will bring you distribution opportunities that good content alone will not.

4 Comments »

  1. Maybe the “wave of the future” is more about diversity and less about popularity?
    Could the the current homogeneous monoculture called Hollywood be ending?

    Comment by gmlk — March 21, 2006 @ 7:49 am

  2. If that is to happen (and I would be happy if it did) we need a better way for people to find stuff that they would like.

    For example a large scale personalization engine for “media” - podcasts, songs, movies, tv shows, books, stories, etc.

    Probably very do-able with the right UI technology.

    Comment by jb — March 21, 2006 @ 1:56 pm

  3. Could any centralized solution work when diversity is all you have? Normally people invent solutions which mirror the way they work. So maybe we are not the best people to invent these kind of solutions.

    http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/C/Conways-Law.html

    Comment by gmlk — March 21, 2006 @ 6:47 pm

  4. Maybe not, but digg seems to work pretty well so far.

    Comment by jb — March 21, 2006 @ 7:12 pm

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