NBC O&O Site Launch

As many of you know I have been working very dilligently with the very bright team of web developers at NBC. Well the day has come and the first of nine sites has launched. http://www.nbcchicago.com is the result of many months of work by a NBC internal start up team. Together we have build a very solid site that emphasis news from a local perspective.

The site has some interesting features that make the news more relevant for the standard city dweller. I was discussing this last night with Liz and one of the reasons why a younger demographic doesn’t get into local tv news is that it is not really all that relevant or interesting. TV news has long been subjected to short news cast and has thus limited its coverage. Newspaper have really ruled the roost on the web and why? Because they cover more. Go to any local tv news site you have poor coverage of things to do in the city (unless the tv station is sponsoring them), you have an over emphasis on hard hitting news which many cities lack and less of a focus on things that really interest or affect a viewer. Local stations have also always struggled with larger news corporations like CNN. These site really cover the news most people care about much more fully then a local station can.

Local stations do have strengths and the ability to have even more. Local stations have a view into the life style of their city. The can reach a lot of people in the area and review and cover any event, play, music event, restaurant, new store, etc… This is on top of their news content. They also have access to tons of video equipment. The new NBC sites do a great job of emphasizing their stations strengths. The make stories hyper local by geo tagging them, they have a great events tool, and cover everything without over cluttering their sites. They also clearly label everything. TV stations have always had trouble with ignoring their broadcast shows and letting the web be its own thing. Not every one who looks at your web site watches your news. Thus not every one knows that Cindy on The Town is actually a feature that covers things to do in the city. However a user can generally guess that entertainment is just that. Hats off to NBC for realizing this.

NBC also made a bold move and realized they have weaknesses. They are encouraging link off to other sites. The thinking is that some times it is interesting and we may not cover it or that some one else may have better coverage. Essentially if a reporter thinks something is worth reading why should they keep that from their readers? Heck Matt Drudge never wrote a story in his life.

So all in all this site is great and breaking the mold. Hats off to all the people I worked with on this project and good luck!