Technology in Business - Dumb Marketing Move

This week’s Dumb Marketing Move goes to CWTV.

CWTV are host to some of the hottest shows on television but I feel they are lacking in certain areas of their technology. Unlike most other cable networks, such as ABC, FOX and NBC, that are up-to-date with technology, CWTV needs to grasp that there is a growing trend for viewing TV programs online!

As a big fan of shows like Gossip Girl and America’s Next Top Model, I expect that I should be able to watch missed episodes online. However, if I miss two weeks of any show on CWTV then I am basically out of luck. Like most people in America I have a busy schedule and the convenience of having my favorite show online is what helps me keep up to date.

I went online to catch up on the 3 episodes I missed of Gossip Girl; I wanted to view the most recent one while it aired on TV. To my amazement, CWTV only had two episodes available. Two episodes! This was Gossip Girl’s third season and the CWTV only had two episodes online. I encountered another problem; I wanted to catch 30 minutes of an episode I missed of America’s Next Top Model. When I went online the next day that's when I realized it was not online. I tried for the next 3 days and it was still unavailable. I literally had to wait four days before the episode was posted online. So from that moment on I decided to view any of CWTV shows on other sites such as Hulu.com or just not watch it. In fact I haven’t watched Gossip Girl in a year because of the CWTV and their ideology of online episodes.

Why is it that CWTV is the only cable network that limits episodes online? When I go on ABC I have the ability to view a show from the beginning of the season or even as far back as the previous season. This is the same with FOX and NBC. They don’t subject the audience, their customers, to only having the option of viewing one or two episodes, or waiting four to five days for either of those episodes.

Lesson Learned: Living in a highly technological world cable networks such as CWTV should be aware of where their audience is viewing their shows. You not only lose viewers but you start to have disgruntled viewers as well, something no network wants, especially when rating are involved to keep shows on the air. Any business needs to be user friendly! Plus, they’re losing out on advertising possibilities for past episodes. Are you overlooking technology in your business that your competition is using? And in turn losing out on customers and money?