Excite to swim channels
In a strategic shift, Excite will organize its search engine around TV-like "channels."
The idea is to create a Web experience that mimics other media, Excite chief executive George Bell said tonight. The channel model makes the search engine company's site more user-friendly, and it allows advertisers to buy in a more familiar way, he added.
He called the changes a "new strategic direction" for the company. Excite's current model builds around functionality, such as individual icons that direct users to Web site reviews or chat. But they focus on all subjects, rather than individual topics.
"We are borrowing from the navigation technology that people already have been steeped in through other media," Bell said. "As a result, we believe people will stick around for longer periods of time, and we will move closer to our goal of being more than 'search.'"
Added Bob Pittman, president of America Online, in a statement: "Consumers clearly identify with channels, and we are pleased with Excite's new direction. It will provide additional rich functionality to AOL NetFind, the search product we launched last week [that is powered by Excite]."
The changes will be implemented gradually during the next 45 days. In the next few weeks, Excite will roll out 14 channels, starting with topics such as arts and entertainment, sports, business and investing, and computing and Internet. Each channel will also contain news, directories, bulletin boards, chat, and search capabilities around for each particular topic.
The new channel infrastructure will let advertisers execute sponsorships and media buys to a targeted group.
In April, all Excite content will be offered to consumers through channels. The company will continue to partner with new content providers as well. Joe Kraus, senior vice president of Excite, said, "1997 is the year of partnering."
In the third and fourth quarter of this year, Excite will build out each channel as its own independent unit, managed by its own producer. Producers will further expand the content, similar to the way that television networks operate.