April 18 2001. Updated May 3 2001.

The end of the NBCi directory?

NBC has decided that it will acquire all of NBCi and integrate its properties into NBC.

Pandia's readers have heard it all before. Disney acquired the InfoSeek search engine to make it the backbone of its all-purpose Go portal. The fall of the online ad market finally led Disney to close the portal.

NBC wanted the Snap search directory to become the Web search core of an Internet gateway called NBCi. Now, read carefully what Bob Wright, Vice Chairman, GE, and President of NBC has to say about the matter:

"NBC has been a pioneer in new technologies, and the steps we took to create NBCi were in keeping with that tradition. However, recent changes in the portal space and the Internet advertising market have caused us to reexamine this initiative. This acquisition will enable us to build on our competitive advantage in the Internet arena while leveraging our core competencies as a network."

The message behind these fine words is simply: "We failed!"

According to MSNBC (another member of the NBC family) NBCi posted a net loss of $245 million on revenues of $31 million in the three month period ended in December. Excluding asset write-downs and restructuring charges, it would have lost $47 million for the quarter.

NBCi will immediately begin reducing the size of its workforce as it prepares to scale down the business.

What is NBC going to do with NBCi?

"This transaction lays the groundwork for future decisions about our online presence," says Mark Begor, CFO, NBC, and President, NBC Business Development and Interactive Media. "This begins the next phase in the evolution of our Internet strategy as we seek to build successful models like MSNBC.com, the #1 news site on the Internet, and CNBC.com, the stickiest financial site on the Web."

We interpret this to mean that NBC will support sites focusing on a particular topic or theme. It is unclear, however, whether one of these sites will be the NBCi Web directory (the old Snap directory). We find that unlikely, as the problems in the online ad market has hit the search engines and directories particularly hard. This will also make it hard to find a buyer.

One way of trying to save the NBCi directory, would be to follow the tactics of the LookSmart directory, distributing the database to other search sites and portals. AltaVista is, for instance, using directory data from the LookSmart directory. NBCi has already implemented a fee-based system for submitting entries to the main part of the directory, in the same way as LookSmart.

Still, one may argue that there is not enough room for another major player in this field in addition to LookSmart and the Open Directory. Even the search directory giant Yahoo! is having problems these days.

Obviously, Internet searchers can do without NBCi. The reduction in the number of search sites is nevertheless disturbing. All the major search engines and directories have their weaknesses, and none of them covers the whole Net (or -- in the case of the directories -- all the best sites). Their ability to list the most relevant sites first also varies. We therefore need alternatives like the NBCi directory.

NBCi press release
The Demise of NBCi
NBCi
NBC to absorb loss-plagued NBCi (MSNBC)
Short Life, Long Death of NBCi

More search engine news...