Web 3.0 & Comcast (Part 2)

Vertical Strategy

Comcast formed Comcast Interactive Media (CIM) in 2005 to develop and grow the Company’s Internet businesses, including the Comcast.net portal. Comcast owns and operates various entertainment, shopping, movie, video, sports, travel and gaming sites. Some of Comcast’s most popular online properties are Comcast.net, Fancast.com, Ziddio, and Gameinvasion.net. We will take a look at the Company’s various online verticals below.

Shopping
Through Comcast.net Shopping, the Company offers comparison shopping on a wide range of products from computers to furnitures to jewelry to clothing.

Travel
Comcast.net Travel provides travelers to search over 100 sites for air, hotel, and car rental deals. The engine providing his functionality is Kayak, a vertical travel search engine we have covered before.

Movies
Comcast has acquired Fandango.com, the largest movie ticketing service in the US. Fandango is a top online brand and destination which 4-5 Million people visit every month to learn about movies and purchase theater tickets. Fandango has long-term, exclusive relationships with many national theater chains that provide it a consistent, unique and dedicated audience of entertainment-oriented consumers.

It sells tickets of opproximately 15,000 screens and 1,300 theaters. It also entertains and informs moviegoers with reviews, commentary and trailers, and offers the ability to quickly select a film, plan where and when to see it, and buy tickets up to 45 days in advance.

Entertainment
E! Online is an entertainment site, providing the latest daily news and celebrity inside information in a fun, irreverent tone. E! Online presents up-to-the-minute entertainment news, original features, gossip, music and movie reviews, live-event coverage and E!-branded merchandise for film, TV and music enthusiasts. E! Online attracts approximately 2.5 million unique U.S. users per month, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

Fancast.com, is a new national online destination that enables consumers to search, discover, manage and enjoy their entertainment experience across many devices and channels, including television, computers, DVDs and wireless services.

Lifestyle
Style Network is a destination for women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable and inspiring lifestyle programming. The site has a blog, offers it various television shows / videos online, and has recently launched an online-store.

Video
Ziddio is an online and ON DEMAND channel for the entertainment enthusiast. Ziddio has partnered with recognized brands to provide quality content. Users are allowed to rate a video, share their videos or participate in contests. Recently, it has entered into partnership with Facebook to allow users to create and share their videos. This partnership will aid in increasing the quantum of UGC video and traffic to Ziddio.

Comcast.net recently launched The Fan, a video site with lots of content from Comcast properties, related videos, personal playlists, categorization, lists of the most recent and most played clips. Clips can also be shared by email and expanded to full screen. The site is currently in alpha, and a full launch is planned, probably for Comcast subscribers only.

Sports
Comcast.net Sports provides the latest news, information, scores, updates, standings, etc. on NHL, MLB, NBA, NHL, College Sports, Motor Sports, Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Boxing, etc. CIM also operates Comcast SportsNet, which is composed of eight regional sports networks: Philadelphia, Chicago, Comcast Mid-Atlantic, West, New York, The Mtn., CSS, and Local Detroit. The site provides information on local sporting events, including professional, minor league, college and high school sports, as well as sports news, analysis, etc.

Gaming
Gameinvasion.net is part of Comcast’s larger gaming offerings for both casual gamers and hard core gaming enthusiasts. Play Games, Comcast’s casual gaming service, allows users to browse and access – with both online and downloadable options – their favorite casual games through easy-to-browse categories such as kids, puzzle, casino, card and action games.

Comcast’s casual gaming offerings are available at playgames.comcast.net. Comcast also offers Games on Demand, a powerful, easy-to-use application that streams PC CD-ROM games with a single click. G4 offers tons of ways to watch with exclusive broadband video on G4TV.com, heaps of VOD, mobile content, and more podcasts than any other network in America.

Autos
Vehix provides a platform for both Private and Professional automotive sellers to showcase their vehicles to a broad national audience. It also provides various tips and advice on the automobiles. Today, Vehix.com represents more than 1,500 dealers in over 50 markets, hosting a real-time, online inventory of over 350,000 new and used vehicles.

Others
Comcast also operates a host of sites that are part of its cable network and is focused on entertainment, sports, news, kids, etc. PBS KIDS Sprout, for example is the first and only 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online, for kids ages 2-5 and their parents and caregivers. It was created as a partnership between Comcast, HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop.

FEARnet is a new advertising-supported, multi-platform network that is the world’s premiere destination for horror, offering the best of modern horror films, streaming video and original content, on video on demand, online and mobile devices. CIM operates thePlaform.com that helps Content providers and Video sites to manage their broadband media efficiently. It also gives the client tools to syndicate, protect, sell, and advertise against their content.

The Company through its Comcast.net offers information on Finance, Music, Dating, Photocenter, Jobs, Community, News, TV, etc. Comcast.net has also launched Widgets for Fan Video, Weather and TVPlanner.

Gaps in Comcast’s Portfolio
Comcast has significant presence in the entertainment space. The Company, as discussed above, is present in a number of verticals and could well consider focusing on its areas of strength rather than diversifying too thin. The Company is looking at building online communities around entertainment sites (music, movies, gaming and videos). It hopes to leverage its programming content and high speed Internet to build and grow its online properties.

The Company has strong presence in the entertainment space and could consider acquisitions to deepen its online entertainment portfolio. Overall, it seems like Comcast, via partnerships and through its own efforts, is trying to be present in every vertical possible. To build considerable presence in Travel, Finance, Jobs, etc., Comcast has done deals with some of the largest players in each space. These are relatively light integrations, and probably don’t require much energy or investment on Comcast’s part. The core of the strategy remains entertainment, and whatever acquisitions Comcast makes would necessarily come from that space.

(To Be Continued)

[Part 1]

This segment is part 2 in the series : Web 3.0 & Comcast
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