[opendtv] Re: Warner Bros. Television Group to launch TheWB.com
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:47:28 -0400
At 11:52 AM -0400 4/29/08, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Maybe this is what Craig keeps talking about. Maybe it is happening
after all.
WB used to be available OTA, before the days of the CW and MNT networks,
and obviously had the same sort of "adults aged 16-34, with an emphasis
on women" target audience they claim they are going after now. They seem
to have reinvented themselves as cable/DBS/broadband Internet only,
supposedly integrated with Facebook.
Will be very interesting to see how this develops.
WB has had limited successes in the "Network TV" business. They have
had a few shows that were a big success with their target
demographics, however, like the big four commercial networks, they
have had a hard time getting viewers to stick with the network after
watching the show that they were attracted to.
The target demographics for WB are right in the sweet spot for the
Gen Y crowd, young folks who are more than willing to pull content
from the net, rather than making appointments to watch shows on
broadcast TV or cable.
But there is something far more important going on here. Something
that all of the networks want, but are struggling to make happen.
That is the ability to build communities around popular programs and
to actually know who is watching. When viewers are willing to
participate in the community there are many collateral benefits:
1. Tracking actual usage for the content at the center of the community;
2. The ability to target ads to the viewer;
3. The ability to sell other products to the community;
4. The ability to create a buzz for the content/community via
peer-to-peer interaction.
5. The ability to cross promote other content/communities.
Broadcasting has used its omnipresence for cross promotion, but that
no longer seems to be an effective way to drive viewers to a specific
show, much less to build the network brand.
Some of the networks have learned how to use the Internet to
effectively promote a show - American Idol may be the best example,
with viewer involvement in the process of eliminating contestants,
the cross promotion via the iTunes store that let's fans buy the
latest performances from the show, etc.
But I think Bert may finally be starting to understand the driving
forces at work here. It is much easier to create community around a
specific show than it is to create loyalty to a network. And Internet
download eliminate some of those pesky middlemen who want to share in
the profits...
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
