Amazon, NBC make a smart deal

The top etailer and the top TV network are hooking up in a deal that will post books, music, and other products recently shown on NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC on a special Amazon page. The page will be promoted with short commercials on the NBC channels.

I think this is a really smart idea. I hope over time they will expand the project to include previous posted goods–“Oh yeah, did you see that book about germs they mentioned on Dateline a couple of days ago?”–that you could look up by date or show. This seems like such low hanging fruit that I’m really surprised no one has done it before. This deal is a good example of what John Sviokla, writing in CIO Magazine, calls being a 24-hour, 3-D marketer.

The closest to this that I’ve read about is still mostly vaporware, a system that allows viewers to press a button on their TV remote control and order a product being shown at that time. Developed by Wink Communications, this system requires a cable or satellite vendor to integrate Wink technology into their settop boxes, remotes, and office systems. After five+ years, Wink hasn’t made much headway.