One of my favorite sites on the web is SNL Transcripts, a searchable database of transcripts from Saturday Night Live (one of my two favorite shows, the other is West Wing). This site, as well as some others, used to have media clips from the show. But NBC made people take the media down... okay, that makes sense, it is copyrighted material.
But I think they are missing an opportunity to connect with fans.
Here is my suggestion: Put up a pay-for-play site that would allow people to come to the main SNL site on NBC and search for the sketch they want and pay some nominal fee to watch it, perhaps just enough to pay for bandwith or something. They could even sell 15 second commercials that would run at the start of the clip as another way to build revenue.
They could offer this service in a pay-for-play or subscription model.
- $0.29 cents to watch one clip, or
- $0.99 cents to download a clip, or
- $9.95 for unlimited viewing, or
- Etc.
More than just gaining revenue from existing content (and encouraging people to get legal clips of the show instead of getting them on Kazaa or a similar service), they would be building a database of the shows audience. They would know who loves the show, what clips are the most popular, etc, etc... this would give NBC a chance to build a true SNL community (customer intimacy, yeah!).
Here are some of the site features they should have:
- Let me build a library of my favorite clips
- Let me share my library with other people
- Let me send a few free clips a month to friends
- First 3 clips free if pay-for-play or first month free for a subscription model
This site would be SUPER easy to market as well. Just go to the owners of all the SNL fan sites and give them free access in exchange for links, run a few commercials during the show... and they're in business!
What do you think - would you pay to watch old SNL skits?
Comments