VIDEO REVIEW: Something for the real little ones -- BabyTV

So this morning I get a note that BabyTV has launched. And immediately I start thinking about when I was a baby what did I play with. My Fisher-Price cash register and shopping cart were my faves.

BabyTV is, "the Internet's first integrated television-style broadcast channel and social networking community focused on the needs of new and expectant parents." The site has a large number of videos and content. Clearly the video format works well here. Instead of reading the proper way to change a diaper, watch a video. Instead of reading an article about how to check a baby's temperature, watch a video. This site feels much more like a tv channel than a YouTube style site. Which might be a good thing.

John Textor, Chairman and CEO of BabyUniverse said,

"We have long communicated our belief that every e- commerce company of today is a new media company of tomorrow and BabyTV.com now stands as a pioneering application within the Internet-Television revolution. While the primary goal of BabyTV.com, and our other content sites PoshCravings.com and ePregnancy, is to increase revenues from advertisers, we also intend BabyTV.com to build for our e-commerce sites the kind of loyalty with consumers that can be difficult to achieve in a pure e- commerce environment. If content breeds loyalty, and loyalty reduces dependency on Internet marketing expense, then we expect BabyTV.com to become a valuable driver of the BabyUniverse business strategy."

Right off the bat, I see three major issues:

• Everywhere they say "BabyTV.com" - yet without the www, the site does not resolve!!?!?!
• There is no STOP button on the video player - GRR! Zero for usability
• WHY is there a web browser inside this site? I don't get it at all. I mean I get the sense they want you to stay watching the videos while you surf other sites, but by placing the other sites inside a frame, you are way too limited.

In addition, the site uses an interesting layout in that it is using a frameset but it appears to work well. However, as well all know the biggest limitation of a frameset is not being able to favorite/bookmark a page, only the home page. Since this site is targeted towards the mainstream, I think this was a HUGE mistake in the choice of coding. Here is what the site looks like on my laptop:

I must have missed as I thought typically there are 2 parents of a baby, but the site creator in her opening video states that the site is for moms. While I understand the mom/female/mother element from marketing goods to women for 10 years online, leaving out the men in the opening video is just silly.

Final comments

Overall, the site has a ton of good content for parents and expectant parents. I think the technical issues might hold the site back from reaching its maximum potential.