MTV recently went live with its Overdrive broadband-only channel to run advertising-supported programming like music, movie trailers, and more. It’s obviously targeted at young people who actually like to see music, something you don’t get a lot of unless you have MTV2. Additionally, it’s an opportunity for the network to kick up their broadcasting of movie trailers and other entertainment, such as the first ten minutes of the new XXX: State of the Union movie, starring Ice Cube.
So imagine my surprise tonight when I went to the site and found that I wouldn’t be able to visit the site due to my browser choice, Mozilla.
“Detecting Browser…
WE’RE SORRY!PC Users with Netscape, Mozilla or Firefox: you need to run Internet Explorer to use MTV Overdrive.
You can download the latest version of Internet Explorer for free by clicking HERE.”
Or, not. There’s no way I believe that MTV couldn’t make their Overdrive systems work properly through Mozilla at the very least - if they wanted to. I’m not even going to step into Opera at the moment. Sure, they’re using whatever features for encoding and high quality that Windows Media Player 9 offers, but that doesn’t mean it works for everyone. It’s about the user experience, isn’t it?
It truly amazes me that a company who thinks they are on top of what is hot or not these days could be shortsighted enough to think that people are just going to download IE or use it as their main browser to view content like this. MTV, your first mistake was believing that what the masses “wanted” was all-entertainment and a few hours of music along with a “top 10″ show that no one could really vote on because they never got to see any videos in the first place. Don’t make the underestimation of the loss of a whole lot of users who could make a whole lot of money for you through the ability to sell advertising at a higher rate be your next mistake.
3 responses so far ↓
1 CThilk // Apr 26, 2005 at 8:25 pm
It seems like there are some publishers who are determined not to get it. I wanted to view the exclusive Batman trailer they were hosting this morning but could not because it required I download a new DRM certificate. A small point but frustrating nonetheless.
I agree that company proclaiming itself to be as hip as MTV would need to make sure it was up on the latest thing like Firefox. My one question would be how deep Firefox penetration is in MTV’s core audience? I suspect most Firefox use is actually from older professionals. There’s nothing overtly “sexy” about Firefox that would appeal to kids, but I’m just guessing here.
–Chris
2 jenett. // May 5, 2005 at 12:25 pm
MTV are clueless jiveturkeys!
Though MTV is on my personal do not link list, might I present this screenshot for your amusement…;~))
3 Arnaldo Capo // Aug 12, 2005 at 8:54 am
MTV explain in their FAQ that it uses IE to take advantage of “special feature” but it does NOT explain what special feature??!?! ASP? WMP?, I have been to many site and my WMP plays perfectly in my FIREFOX. I can’t even see their videos. I guess is a Corporate thing there. Always money regardless what medium they use, IE is a very bad, lame browser with lots of security HOLES. I hope true firefox/Mozilla/Opera users don’t give up the fight and starts using IE. The only way to stop this monopoly abuse is to find alternative.
- Arnaldo Capo