For all the successes in the online video landscape, some offers from major brands have been spectacularly underwhelming and have either had the plug pulled or been left to quietly die.
ThisJustIn, the comedy site launched just six months ago and aimed at being a “brand extension and potential development pipeline” for HBO, has been axed by parent company TimeWarner, reports Variety.
The report states: “the site, which was a joint venture with AOL (and replaced that company’s existing comedy channel), never got off the ground. It suffered from what some visitors said was a confusing layout as well as a lack of marketing exposure.”
Apart from the absolute no-brainer that intuitive navigation should be a given, it also highlights the importance of on-air cross-promotion for any online initiative launched by a broadcast network.
Other famous casualties on the Road to Online Damascus include CBS’s Innertube and Annheuser Busch’s lame duck bud.tv.
The latter fell at at the first usability hurdle by being compelled to introduce an age verification system during registration, so complex that traffic plummeted. Even once in, users were subjected to such lacklustre content, they seldom came back.
The Beyondness of Things 