ABC's Media Player Re-Launches Tomorrow, we've got screenshots
Update: Hi Google visitors. If you're having problems with the ABC.com media player, please see this post.
As announced last month, ABC is relaunching their media player on abc.com at 9pm PST/12am EST tomorrow. We've got some screenshots below if you'd like to see what the player looks like ahead of time.
I spoke briefly with VP Alexis Rapo about the launch. She told me that the original player, which launched in April was "conceived and built in 62 days." I was under the impression that Disney had been tinkering with this for at least a year, but she probably just meant the current iteration.
During the test this spring, the player received 5.7 million episode requests totaling 16 million streams. ABC reached an agreement with the affiliates earlier this month, and one local ad will show during playback.
The new player contains some improvements, including a streamlined interface, and the substitution of design treatments for the black space that surroundes a show window. (Like an island theme around "Lost.") The treatment fades as the show starts to play.
ABC's strategy with the player now is to put new shows alongside successful brands, hoping to entice users to sample shows they haven't seen before. Lost and Desperate Housewives return to the player, and Grey's Anatomy makes its online debut. New shows include Six Degrees, Ugly Betty, The Nine, and The Knights of Prosperity.
ABC has the right idea by making the video as smooth and attractive as possible. I can honestly say I enjoy using it. What's more, I think it obviates the audience's desire to put the shows up on a video-sharing service like YouTube, and drives more people to download from iTunes.
Below, some screenshots of the revamped player, complete with ABC's logo doing its best to look like a disco ball.
ABC by far has the worst player out of CBS and NBC. I'm trying to watch "Grey's Anatomy" and the stream has constantly frozen up, especially in the beginning. CBS has the best player only having buffering interruptions a couple of times. The best thing is that you can switch between full and smaller screen without any pauses. NBC's is good too except that it does pause a tiny bit between switching between full and small screen.
Posted by: Sonya | September 23, 2006 at 10:43 AM
Yeah I agree, CBS definetly has the best player. NBC and ABC are nice as well! BBQ BILL looks interesting too!
Posted by: Xonger.com | September 25, 2006 at 02:09 AM
Isn't it ironic that the CW doesn't really have a player to screen entire episodes? I imagine if you want to be attracting a young, hip crowd, offering eps online is a good way to go.
Does anyone know how long ABC will have their videos online? Will it be for the entire season and if so, will the entire season be archived?
Posted by: Jimmy | September 25, 2006 at 09:49 AM
I'm having technical problems I can't seem to get into their player it always tells me that episodes aren't available at the moment, please try again later. :-S
Posted by: Andy | November 03, 2006 at 09:12 PM
Yes, I agree with the first post here.
ABC drives me nuts. Of the 11 times that I tried watching different episodes, only 2 times worked with little or no buffering.
I have a cable internet connection, and I have no problem watching stream on other websites. with ABC, I keep on getting the screen frozen, and not starting up, or warning signs, that I don't have an optimal connection.
I believe buffering is the problem.
I watched OC couple of times on Fox, which specifically says "no buffering" and it was the same quality as a downloaded avi file.
I am not sure why a lot of folks are praising this streaming service.
If I had anything slower than Cable, I'd wonder whether it was my connection.
This only prompts people to search for other means to watch missed episodes-it is that bad, at least in my case.No wonder it's experimental!
Posted by: undeadheart | November 24, 2006 at 02:23 PM
Yup...abc's streaming worked rather well without hesi hesi hesi last Aug, after that it's been been a war to watch any program...what's worse I enjoy some of the more interactive commercials and and and I can't play...yup...back to the reliable paperback
Posted by: okjk | January 05, 2007 at 08:05 PM
I WAS watching ABC episodes on their old player. As of today however it doesn't seem to be available! The new player shuts down my internet explorer EVERY time. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr Am I missing something here?
Posted by: Becky | May 21, 2007 at 10:06 PM
i too can no longer play the abc media player....it downloads the plugin but I can never see the video and there is no real troubleshooting....the old player was great! nbc is hard sometimes, but cbs wins by far.
Posted by: emerald north | May 25, 2007 at 10:50 AM
okay i am desperate here... I missed the LOST finale and the new player doesnt work for me! it used to have the old player option so that how i watched it, but now its gone. I am going craaazy, I need to watch the show! help anyone? please. i have a mac..
Posted by: elisa | May 25, 2007 at 06:53 PM
having same problem with the abc's new vista player. I get audio only now, no video. anybody know how to fix this?
Posted by: pp | May 30, 2007 at 08:36 PM
Ok, I'm seeing a lot of frustration with ABC's media player. I will contact them and see what's up.
Posted by: Steve | May 31, 2007 at 07:51 AM
I sent ABC a message regarding not being able to see the video on the new Vista player over a week ago and haven't gotten a response. I think this was done on purpose so we couldn't watch the finales! They should have at least kept the old version as an option until they were sure the "newer" version of the "new" player worked.
Posted by: mary | June 01, 2007 at 08:09 AM
I am also having problems with the new player. I can watch some episodes but the page is too big for my browser window and I cant scroll over to see the newest episodes. I have contacted them 3 or 4 times with no reply. missed several finales!!!
Posted by: Cindy | June 04, 2007 at 07:11 AM
Well be glad you even have the opportunity to watch the episode. When you want to watch the Full Episode's from Europe you get a message that "Only viewers within the United States can watch full-length episodes" ..
Posted by: Yoeri | June 21, 2007 at 07:51 AM
I was able to watch the viewer fine until the end of May. Now, it says that I must be in the U.S. (which I am) to be able to watch the full length episodes. I cannot even download the player - it immediately comes to that screen. I have also tried to contact abc.com twice with no answers. I hope they will evaluate this problem soon.
Posted by: Teresa | July 01, 2007 at 12:39 PM
Wow, overwhelming consensus that ABC's player is crap. Wish I could disagree and root for the underdog, alas no. Last April I marathon watched every available episode of Brothers and Sisters and Men In Trees wihtout problem. Now, it's just a black screen (funny enough, those three commercials they play per hour-long episodes come through fine!). ABC, please go back to the more rudimentary version... At least it worked.
Posted by: Jen | September 01, 2007 at 07:17 AM
It's October already with all the shows starting new episodes and ABC's player is still crap. It's a struggle to get through just one episode of Ugly Betty on my brand new Intel Core 2 Duo Dell w/ cable connection. ABC, get your act together! I agree that this will just drive more people back to illegal downloading.
Posted by: Tina | October 02, 2007 at 12:48 AM
I used to be able to watch ABC video player but now I can't see anything. I've spent hours trying to figure out what's wrong with no success. I sent a message on feedback several days ago but have not received a response. Please how do I get to open the media player so I can watch your shows ABC? Help us out!!!!!
Posted by: Laura Massie | November 07, 2007 at 09:43 PM
That player is completely irritating. I just had to reinstall it because it kept saying I was missing a plugin that I WASN'T. It plays the ads JUST FINE but then the thing just sits there. Their website is absolutely no help, movenetworks' website is completely worthless, entire thing is a useless hunk of crap. ABC should be ashamed that this is the product they put out onto the market to try and get viewers for their TV shows.
Posted by: Mike | December 08, 2007 at 06:50 PM
I thought all the trouble I was having was due to my new computer. I haven't been able to successfully watch an episode for about a month now. I've tried everything and either the player crashes IE or FFox or if it comes in it is severly pixelated and choppy. This used to be the best player out there, crystal clear..Awesome. Now it is worthless and nothing seems to fix it. Wish ABC would do something about it. I didn't get any response from them. Being such a big business you would think they would fix this but apparently this has been going on for some time.
Posted by: Amy | December 21, 2007 at 05:45 PM
Hi guys
I have been searching for days now to the problem on ABC's website, I thought it was my machine, then I thought it was Javascript, I see the ads but will not play full episodes, anyone had any success???
GAvin
Posted by: Gavin | February 27, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Plays commercials fine, audio and video...gets to the show and goes white, with audio only.
NO SUPPORT, NO HELP, NO FAQ.... :(
Posted by: Erol Sommer | March 13, 2008 at 03:41 PM
commercial yes
episode no
help no
concern no
Posted by: CC | March 26, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Why, Why, Why. As I am reading the many posts on many websites I am seeing YEARS of people that have the same problem I do. I see the commercial but the epsiode will not play. Is ABC going to fix this problem or is there something I need to download. I'm trying to find the player on ABC.com and can't even find it to re-download it.
Any Help Out There?
Posted by: Renee | April 12, 2008 at 05:02 PM
I am also not able to get the player to work. dO I need to download a more updated version of the player and if so where can I find it. HELP ABC!!!
Posted by: Denise Madd | April 15, 2008 at 06:15 AM
I have Vista, too, and the ABC media player doesn't download. Keep getting the same error message - Mediaplayer has stopped working. I give up....
Back to HULU...
Posted by: Alexia Katz | April 23, 2008 at 04:27 AM
For the last two weeks I have been unable to play video from abc's site. Vista user here (piece of junk)anybody have any solutions?
Posted by: Quinn Harrison | May 29, 2008 at 10:45 PM
everytime i get on the abc one i click on the episode and i sit there waiting for it to load for 10 minutes so eventually i just give up. someone help me please
Posted by: Kara | June 17, 2008 at 05:31 PM
The "NEW and improved" version of ABC's player is crap. My pc w/ xp just says loading and 10 seconds later my Mozilla crashes. My room mates pc w/ vista plays the episodes, but they are choppy and the sound doesn't match the video. wtf. i'm SO frustrated, I recently got into the Lost episodes and now I'm hooked and cannot watch! I am also DYING to see Grey's season premiere! ABC is losing a LOYAL fan and customer here if they don't do something quick.........
Posted by: bridget | September 30, 2008 at 07:37 AM
The "NEW and improved" version of ABC's player is crap. My pc w/ xp just says loading and 10 seconds later my Mozilla crashes. My room mates pc w/ vista plays the episodes, but they are choppy and the sound doesn't match the video. wtf. i'm SO frustrated, I recently got into the Lost episodes and now I'm hooked and cannot watch! I am also DYING to see Grey's season premiere! ABC is losing a LOYAL fan and customer here if they don't do something quick.........
Posted by: bridget | September 30, 2008 at 07:37 AM
Try this browser to watch the old episodes...
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/content/abcplayer/default.aspx
Good Luck! I still can't view the new episodes! I have vista! Any Ideas???
Posted by: mary | October 04, 2008 at 06:39 PM
Having the same problem here. The episodes will play at my work but they wont play at home. Is there anyone listening at ABC???
I've tried contacting them and Move Networks about problems with the media player and NOTHING!!! This is very bad business. At least I know I'm not the only one having this issue...freezing, not loading, only the ads play.
Posted by: rosalie | October 12, 2008 at 09:09 PM
ABC, to put it bluntly, it just epic fail. I have no problem watching CBS or NBC shows, but with the new player, all I can get is the ads. The show doesn't even play!
Posted by: nicole | October 18, 2008 at 08:49 AM