Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
Blogcast
MillimeterThe Distribution Beat
Feb 18, 2009 12:00 PM, By Eric Melin
As DVRs become as common as a Meryl Streep Oscar nomination, “brand integration” is the buzzword for 2009. NBC's off-again-on-again TV reboot Knight Rider is basically one big car commercial, but the new trend sees shows steering inevitably toward the computer screen. Besides offering most of their primetime shows online as well, more networks are producing shows specifically for the Internet. Eager advertisers looking to place their products in front of the right demographic's eyes have two increasingly popular choices for video on the Web.
| Related Links | ||||
|
The first is good, old-fashioned product placement. Even dressed in its new fancy clothes, brand integration is still about making sure that in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Keanu Reeves decides the fate of the Earth at — where else? — a McDonald's. But since web-video budgets are about one bazillionth of those of major motion pictures, networks are producing multiple online shows in the new year. NBC has plans for nine web series, including a talk show, while CBS has two in the works. Shows such as these can feature advertisers' products written right into the storyline, and the networks even offer the client a voice in the shows' creative process.
Web videos simply cost less to produce and can make it easier to control when the audience sees ads — especially when those companies aren't even trying to be sneaky about it. In a throwback to the days of early TV, brands are also engaging viewers by presenting online web content that relates directly or indirectly to their products. Crocs has a travel-guide web series called Cities by Foot, while My Damn Channel boasts a Southern Comfort-presented live-music program called Music Nights as well as Agency of Record, a comedy series from the makers of You Suck at Photoshop and sponsored by — you guessed it — Adobe. Paralleling the current trend of indie-rock music's usage in commercials, both the brand and the show benefit from the association.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.