EyeStar TV goes after eyecare clinics; makes viewers squint
July 3, 2009 by Dave Haynes
So, first of all, where can I get one of those screens, ‘cuz I really don’t t like what regular 16:9 screens do to Hollywood movies. This one looks like 32:9 or something, but I’m guessing is so far only sold at the Martian outlets of Best Buy.
Anyway, the stretchee screen with the happy host is part of the Website splash screen for the EyestarTV network, which appears to be operating in my relative neck of the woods and wisely going after a specific vertical to make a buck.
I really like it when a network chooses a niche industry, and really goes hard, trying to lock it up. In this case, the EyeStar people are after the eyecare professionals business, aka optometrists. It’s also encouraging that the company is presenting its offer as a service and charging the offices to put the player units in and to run customized network content. I’d struggle to see this as a model that could be supported just by the Bausch and Lombs of the world doing advertising. Not enough of them.
Where I get a little jumpy, unless there is some evil design here, is the same old carved up screen designs with little, teeny headlines. Some of the sample videos have that bottom-row-of-the-eye-chart feel to them, which is either just questionable content design or a Dr. Evil at work, making sure people know they need glasses by making them squint at the little-bitty type.
The news release about the company comes via the DSE website, and originally from Navori, which is doing the software.
EyestarTV is currently installed in eyecare businesses from coast to coast throughout Canada and the U.S. According to the company, installation is straightforward. The customer receives a computer with EyestarTV already installed, and the business simply connects it to their flat screen TV and high speed Internet, after which the loop displays within a matter of minutes. EyestarTV estimates there are more than 35,000 patients viewing their material every month.
EyestarTV’s installation process is streamlined to a point where it can take between 24 to 48 hours from the time a customer signs a contract to the time the company creates a customized and branded video presentation for that specific eyecare business.
When customers express interest in EyestarTV, they are referred to an online form asking for specific information about their business and what they want to showcase on their EyestarTV presentation loop (including information about their practice, products, services, hours of operation and their choice of RSS feeds). Once that form is completed, it is immediately distributed to EyestarTV’s group of in-house designers, who then create the customized content.
This content is downloaded to the subscriber’s client computer and can be displayed in the waiting room as well as other designated areas of the office using a video splitter. Every month, EyestarTV publishes an online newsletter that encourages its subscribers to view the newly released videos and update their playlist. In this way, their content is kept fresh and their patients are viewing timely and up-to-date content every visit.
EyeStar says it has installs across Canada and into the United States, but the actual store-count is unclear.
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