I want my MMA!
Technology held back several business models from developing properly on the world wide web. In 2008 that is almost entirely gone. Technologies for delivering several different products and services are quite mature. Regardless of whether you are a one man show and posting videos on Youtube.com or a large video producer looking to sell subscriptions to a large consumer base, the proper tools exist.
I try and spend as much of my budget on the internet, as I can. If I can confidently purchase a product or service through the Internet then I do. When I was in college I certainly used Napster to download songs, but now that I have an actual income, I like to pay for what I consume.
If I pay though, I expect to get my product or service. In 2008 I should not have to deal with inadequate technologies (especially on the producer side) or horrible customer service/support. So when I joined UFC on demand and paid $9.99 for one month ($9.99 per month or $59.99 for six months? Uhhh let's see cheaper to pay month to month then for six months at once??? I guess the business mind behind that one was the same mind behind using a really crappy technology) of unlimited usage of the vast UFC and PrideFC video library, I expected to receive my product.
From the word go, there was nothing but problems. From the video player that crashed constantly, to the awful emails that customer support would respond with, I felt like I had really thrown $9.99 away. I never watched one video from start to finish.
That said, I can go to Google Video and do a search for various UFC fights and several of the bigger ones have been removed, but there is a still a great selection of videos to watch for free.
So how can a bunch of consumers with no money produce a better content delivery system than a multi-million dollar company like the UFC? Well obviously the consumers did not have to build the system for delivery, but they sure use what is out there better!
So Dana White, if you happen to read my blog (yeah right), throw some money to a porn video distributor and get a decent system together for delivering your vast video library. You may look at the revenues and say it is simply not worth it, but I would say that is more a reflection of your current delivery system pissing your target market (me) off to the point we will not use your system.
Do not use any solution that requires a certain operating system or for the user to download a player or anything like that. Go with a solution that allows any browser (mobile is big for your type of content, iPhone now, but it will grow) to view your videos. With the way you drop f-bombs, I am quite sure you know someone in the adult video delivery industry (second time I have said that), so call one of your boys and get ufc on demand in a better state.
