Barry Diller's Search for the Future (1993) | Hacker News Reader

Barry Diller's Search for the Future (1993)

kenauletta.com

13 pointsbilifuduo10 comments

For those not aware...

Diller left QVC a few years later but through the late 90s acquired Home Shopping Network and a bunch of other media assets, to form a conglomerate that would eventually be called IAC/InterActiveCorp.

IAC has owned (and sometimes created) some of the biggest consumer brands on the web, including Expedia, TripAdvisor, Match Group (including Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish), CollegeHumor, Vimeo, Ask.com, Angie's List, UrbanSpoon, and more.

I've heard people sneer about IAC (I can't find it now but I recall a few years ago seeing a tweet from someone notable to the effect that IAC is where online brands to go die).

But you know, as a stable for solid, profitable e-commerce brands it seems to be doing OK.

It's interesting to note that this article was written in 1993 and contains no mention of the word "internet", and Diller was already into his 50s and only just learning how to use a computer, but he knew something big was brewing that he could be a part of.

Within a few years he was one of the biggest players in the internet boom, rode out the crash and thrived in the aftermath to become one of the most solid online media companies around.

Pretty impressive.

IIRC, Diller failed completely at HSN and sold his share, and then started IAC which is a separate venture.

From the Wikipedia page [1] it seems IAC is the same entity that had previously been called HSN, Inc. then later USA Networks, Inc. They started selling off traditional TV broadcasting and production assets in the early 2000s, renamed to IAC/InterActiveCorp in 2004, and only spun out Home Shopping Network in 2008.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAC_(company)

> He wanted to invite Diller once again to join the cable team. The two men wound up talking about the PowerBook; Roberts had just bought one and was still trying to figure it out. "I wanted to understand it for the cable business," Roberts says. Diller shared his impressions of what computers mean for the future. One day, he speculated, the computer screen might become a TV set, and the keyboard would be a mechanism for summoning anything. The speed would be astonishing.

I'm very happy Mr. Diller is still alive to see this happen. He's 76 now.

Barry Diller's wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, was a proofreader of Sam Altman's last article 'How to be successful'.

What's interesting is that the same thing Diller attempted at QVC/Home Shopping Network is being done again my publishers are attempting to combine content with commerce.

And it will fail for the same reasons: https://fiveeasypieces.substack.com/p/five-easy-pieces-telev...

That article is a little short or exactly where the combining is failing. Can you elaborate?

I'd probably argue that if you're not a massively established shopping portal that content (either to drive relevant traffic or as, essentially, a long-form sales pitch) is absolutely the best way to get sales. If you're not running ads pretty much anything that's going to rank or go viral is content rather than commerce.

Or am I missing something?

[Banter about a Powerbook]

> ...the new video democracy. Through it he could see how technology, with incredible speed, was transforming dumb television sets into smart ones, making it possible for viewers to select, organize, and interact with programming and information rather than passively consuming what was offered on fifty, or even five hundred, channels.

NINETEEN NINETY THREE!!!!!

> With the click of a remote-control or a telephone button, they will summon up movies from the equivalent of a video jukebox.

All you had to do was watch BTTF2 and the Tom Selleck AT&T commercials. Not that remarkable.

Such a visionary guy. When other media execs saw a fad Diller saw the future and had the conviction to make it through the dot com bubble.

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