mediachannels; That's Entertainment

American Demographics, Nov, 2000

Streaming media doesn't just work when models are walking around in underwear. Visitors to Travelocity's site can view 6,000 hours of short clips with voiceovers of travel destinations and 360-degree pans inside cruise ships. Fresh from success in these limited areas, Travelocity is now looking to better integrate streaming media throughout its site, says Chris McAndrews, senior vice president and general manager, who is in charge of leisure travel. "We're definitely seeing a correlation between investing in these multimedia tools and our sell through," he says.

Part of the reason is the bewitching power of streaming media. The average user sits on a simple text and graphics Yahoo! Broadcast Web page for about 30 seconds, but put streaming images on that page and it jumps to 9 to 13 minutes. "You're engaged, and you're engaged for a long period of time," explains Stan Woodward, vice president of Yahoo! Broadcast Business Services. "Now you have the ability to reach that person."

That's what Armani Exchange hoped for this February when it re-launched the Web site that it originally started in 1994. This time around the simple logo t-shirts and hats were replaced by a full multi-media experience, with bar scene music, streaming images of 60 percent of the clothing line, and a lifestyle `zine. "We are a lifestyle collection, not just about the person who wears the clothing," explains Leslie Applebaum, director of public relations, "but about what music they listen to and what movies they watch."

But e-commerce analysts aren't sure that offerings that are mostly entertainment in nature will be enough to turn eyeballs into sales. Essentially, content on retail sites should be focused on helping consumers make better purchasing decisions, such as seeing how fabrics move, explaining a book plot, or previewing a travel destination, says Lydia Loizides, analyst at Jupiter Research. "You have to ask yourself, `What problem am I trying to resolve for the consumer,'" she says.

Sites using streaming media should also be easy to navigate, and fair to modem users. Boo.com, a fashion site which shut down in May, used so many Java applications and moving images that only broadband users or the really patient could shop comfortably. When Boo.com returns this fall, thanks to Fashionmall.com, it won't sell anything directly. Instead it will act as a portal to usher visitors to other fashion retail sites. With 89 percent of home Internet users still connecting with modems, the successful sites will be the ones which use programs that account for streamers' connection speeds. "Trying to wait for a video to run on 28.8K, is painful," Loizides says

But streaming media doesn't have to be bandwidth intensive. Sports equipment and clothing retailer REI is in early testing stages of a talking catalogue for REI.com that showcases clothing in low bandwidth moving slide shows. Depending on customer reaction, REI will roll out more integrated offerings. The drive towards the cutting edge is especially strong on clothing sites, where consumers most want to recreate the local boutique atmosphere. "It's hard to sell fashion online," says Carol Greenbaum, product manager at RealNetworks, creator of the leading media viewer, RealPlayer. "People want to be able to see the fabric, touch it, and try it on. It's not like a Britney Spears CD."