The New MTV.com: Design Disaster

I know the new MTV.com has been up for a while, but I was just recently trying to read an article on the page when I started to notice what exactly was going on. Now, I’m not completely opposed to full flash sites, 2advanced shows that it can be done very well, but I am opposed to the use of flash to bloat your site with constant video and animation. As a designer for the web, you should understand that even in a time that almost everyone has broadband, almost no one is going to be willing to dedicate the full power of their computer and broadband resources to one site. Even sites that can take more than 4 seconds to load can turn people away. So why would MTV decide to flash multimedia ads in between loading every page, and keep a video running in the top left the entire time? The problem I think they’re making is that they’re treating their website like another television station. They’re doing TV on the web, not trying to innovate for the web. I can imagine a table of business men saying: “Hey, kids sit through commercials in the middle of all our content on the television, why won’t they sit through an ad between every piece content on the web?” It’s just another example of old media not being willing to catch up with new media, or what consumers of new media want.
Another problem MTV may not be aware they’ve suffered from for so long is a lack of competition. As far as television goes, how many cable stations are offering music news and videos? Perhaps a few more now than in the past, but still, competition is minimal. On the web however, competition becomes a serious concern. The consumer could go anywhere for what MTV offers on their site. Music videos? It’s much easier to go to Myspace or Youtube or even Google Video. Music news? Pitchfork, Lambgoat, thePRP... The list goes on and on. MTV no longer has the same control in this media.
So with a site bloated with videos, infected with ads, plagued with lagging scroll bars, and a load time of epic proportions, how will MTV stay on top? I’d say with the way they’re going, they won’t. Not that they even are, but of course they still will collect visitors from those who don’t know any better. I’d just like to think that the group that makes up those-who-don’t-know-any-better is shrinking quickly, and with the web offering faster and easier options every day, there is almost no excuse to put up with such a site.