RSSA9.com Finds Promotion in 'The O.C.'
By Nate Mook | Published January 27, 2005, 9:33 PM
UPDATED Now that Google has become a common verb in the English lexicon, Amazon's A9.com apparently wants its place in pop-culture as well.
On this week's episode of Fox's wildly popular "The O.C.," which has become a primetime showcase for up-and-coming bands and current trends, A9 makes its debut among teens with three words: "I A9.com'd him." (View the clip on Google Video)
Amazon says it did not pay for the television placement, and was pleasantly surprised by the exposure.
"This placement was not paid for by A9.com or Amazon.com. We didn't even know it was going to air," A9.com CEO Udi Manber told BetaNews. "We do think it's great to see this happening though, because it shows people like the experience A9.com offers and that they are telling their friends and family about it."
Amazon has been struggling to push its fledgling A9.com brand, which ranks 30th among search engines.
A9 recently unveiled an addition to its Yellow Pages service that enables users to view a picture of the business they are querying, along with a "block view" that displays adjacent storefronts.
Google, meanwhile, has been outwardly dismayed at the use of its trademark in everyday vocabulary, but it's hard to argue any negative impact to the company; Google is by far the dominant search engine, commanding 60 percent of the market.
Nonetheless, Google must protect its trademark like Xerox and Kleenex do on a daily basis, or risk losing rights to the name. Microsoft faced a similar problem with challenges against the company owning the word "Windows."
Calling The O.C. "wildly popular" is a bit of a stretch. For the week of January 26, 2005, it ranked 50th among national network shows.
Here are the top 10, with The O.C. listed for comparison.
Source: http://allyourtv.com/latestratings/index.php
Rank | Show (Viewers)
1 | AFC CHAMPIONSHIP ON CBS (44,330,000)
2 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY (33,570,000)
3 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY (26,710,000)
4 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (25,950,000)
5 | NUMB3RS PREVIEW (24,920,000)
6 | CSI: MIAMI (22,040,000)
7 | LOST (19,690,000)
8 | EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND (19,250,000)
9 | CSI (19,030,000)
10| E.R. (18,820,000
50| THE O.C. (7,870,000)
American Idol? Wildly popular.
Lost? Wildly popular.
The O.C.? Not so much.
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|I personally use A9 because it puts images and results on the same page. And the Amazon 1.5% discount is nice, too.
Also, entering in queries from the address bar is much easier. a9.com/theWord is easy to remember.
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|Lame... that was my first thought.
Amazon must have paid them off, I mean who would say "A9.com?" If anything, I mean if anyone actually uses A9, they might say "I A9'd him."
Lame...
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|hahahaha..... that was my first response...
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|Yeah, that was lame. Also, the reason that A9's ranked so low is because it sucks in so many ways:
1. Search pages are a dizzying array of flashing neon & popups-- weren't popups so hated they quickly became passé? This is the new technology they crow about?
2. Speaking of technology, i beta-tested the A9 toolbar many months ago and ended up removing it for a number of bugs. Funny, i just visited the site again because of this article, and received a page greeting me by first & last name, and a bunch of links i did research on almost a year ago-- the time i uninstalled the toolbar.
3. They place pay-for placement links above the search results... slightly separated...BUT WORSE...
4. The first ranked search result(NOT the pay-for-place ads above), is nothing more than one of those fake search engine sites that is just full of unrelated ad referrals: the type where if you search for say, tsumani: there's all kinds of links stating: "tsunamis on sale-- 2 for the price of one", "click here to download tsunamis"....
Speaking of download: if you search for software-- say, something like Irfanview: the first-ranked download site presented(not the pay-for-placement sites above) is usually a site that does not have software-- you will be presented often with a page containing a plain text line:"click here to download Irfan" , but it's just text and not a link-- and the rest of the page will be just a bomabardment of flash ad boxes & popups-- they're hoping you click & think another page will appear soon(never actually, because it's just plain text underlined to make it look like a link), and in the meantime click on some tantalizing ad...
The next-ranked site will actually host software for download, but here's what they do:
you click the download link & miracle of miracles, it works! It's not just a plain text trap you think to yourself-- until you see the page loading: a similar neon ad bombbardment, and in big red letters: IRfan Download............(just like that, no link to click, the line of periods infers you should wait for the download file to appear momentarily.. but it never does(this is done purposefully, it's not a glitch), they're hoping that you'll be distracted by one of the 100!! and some other links on that page. After waiting some moments & the download does not materialize, you notice finally a gray-background box full of purple & darker gray text ads, & camouflaged in between them in red & gray tiny print: "if the download hasn't already started, click here to download again...." What a sly choice of words!!!! Makes you think that the fault is yours, the program already downloaded & you just plain missed it/lost it .....
And that's why this WCFields engine is ranked so low, folks-- we're not lamer suckers!!!
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|I am from San Francisco Virtual Tour. It provides an interacive photo virtul tour around the city including all attractions like Golden Gage Bridge and Alcatraz.
I was shocked by the quality of A9.com pictures, how Amazon can do such a disgrace for themselves!
visit my site an see a way better San Francisco:
http://www.virtuar.com/ysf2/ - San Francisco Virtual Tour.
It ranks #1 on Google for San Francisco Virtual Tour,
and is published on the internet way earlier - in 2002.
Sincerely,
Igor Polk,
San Francisco Click,
Photo Virtual Tour Magazine: http://www.virtuar.com/click.htm
Yes San Francisco, LLC
Score: -1
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