If it wasn't immediately obvious why
Comcast forked over a reported $150 million for Plaxo, a social networking site, it may become clearer later this month, when Plaxo officially launches Fan Pages for FanCast, Comcast's online video site.
The social features (available in beta now) let users join fan groups of various TV shows, where they can share episodes and discuss plot developments to their heart's content with fellow obsessives. The hope is that social networking could be the killer app for media companies looking to win more viewers online.
"We see this as an engine of social discovery," says John McCrea, vice president of marketing at Plaxo. "The key is a an interoperability between social networks, media properties, and destination sites on the web."
Social networking could also serve as an efficient recommendation engine – it's viral marketing for television at its best. But that's not really Comcast's primary goal here – the company is really looking to grow the user base of Fancast, an on-demand video site that competes with high-flying Hulu, a joint venture between Fox and NBC.
"Fancast benefits by increasing awareness of the site and driving traffic back to Fancast. We're looking at advertising as a key monetization. There certainly will be advertising . . . Fancast has advertising within videos themselves, too," says McCrea.
Image: Courtesy Plaxo
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