Over the weekend of Sept. 18-19, many local affiliates of The WB television network ran an online promotion for the pilot of its new one-hour drama "The Mountain," which aired Sept. 22.
By logging onto the affiliate station Web sites, any viewer with a broadband connection could watch the pilot episode without commercial interruption.
Since a recent Nielsen//NetRatings study showed that 51 percent of online Americans have broadband, this is potentially a lot of viewers watching the pilot ad-free.
At least one television reviewer didn't know what to make of the promotion. In her Sept 21 review of the pilot in Daily Variety, Ann Donahue wrote, "Between Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, Web sites of several WB affiliates will make 'The Mountain' available for download. Which pretty much means Netizens who care enough to watch online are going to be cheated out of two of the redeeming things about the show -- the scenery and the soundtrack -- by being forced to watch it on a tiny screen and listen to it on tinny speakers."
Donahue's comment probably says more about her computer than about the promotion, but it does indicate the extent to which The WB's integrated marketing experiment in giving away its content online steps into new territory.
What does success look like here? If a significant number of viewers log on to see the pilot, is it likely that they would also tune in later? Would online success negatively impact the Nielsen ratings for the broadcast? Does that matter?
For comment, I reached out to Brad Turell, executive vice president, network communications of The WB.
iMedia: To how many markets did The WB offer the broadband promo? If more than KTLA, how many accepted?
Turell: The initiative was available on the web sites of all Tribune stations affiliated with The WB, which includes 19 of our affiliates, including four in the top five markets and eight in the top 10. The stations were WPIX in New York, KTLA in Los Angeles, WGN in Chicago, WPHL in Philadelphia, WLVI in Boston, KDAF in Dallas-Fort Worth, WBDC in Washington, D.C., WATL in Atlanta, KHWB in Houston, KTWB in Seattle/Tacoma, WBZL in Miami, KWGN in Denver, KPLR in St. Louis, KWBP in Portland, WTTV/WTTK in Indianapolis, KSWB in San Diego, WTXX in Hartford/New Haven, WNOL in New Orleans and WEWB in Albany, NY.
iMedia: Is this the first time that The WB did such a promotion?
Turell: Earlier in the month, we streamed the entire pilot of "Jack & Bobby" on AOL Broadband, which was another groundbreaking initiative. More than 700,000 downloaded it and a poll of those who did so was tremendously positive and indicated that many people were exposed to the new show via the broadband streaming.
iMedia: I recently noticed that a DVD of the pilot for "Jack & Bobby" was included in an issue of Entertainment Weekly: are the two part of an integrated WB campaign?
Turell: The two marketing efforts were separate, but they are examples of new ways launching a show and getting it noticed in the currently crowded television landscape.
iMedia: If the online campaign for The Mountain succeeded, wouldn't that have a negative impact on the Nielsen ratings? Why would The WB risk such a thing?
Turell: A television season is a marathon, not a sprint. We looked at this as an opportunity for more people to sample a show we are proud of. Our hopes are that those who have enjoyed the show will come back in subsequent weeks. The fact that the initiative was brought to us by Tribune, which is a minority owner of The WB as well as our largest station group, made it even more appealing to us.
iMedia: Do you have, and would you be willing to share, any traffic figures for the online promo of The Mountain?
Turell: We'll be happy to when they become available. As yet we don't have them.
iMedia: At present, with the promo barely over and the pilot running tomorrow night, how does The WB evaluate the success of this online broadband promo?
Turell: We really can't speak to the success of the initiative until we see the data, but the results from the AOL/"Jack & Bobby" initiative and an enormously positive poll that was conducted after people viewed it gives us reason to believe streaming "The Mountain" on the Tribune Web sites will also be successful.
And the Nielsen perspective…
Still curious, I contacted both Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen Media Research to see if they have different points of view.
On the Web side, Nielsen//NetRatings Internet analyst Kaizad Gotla says, "Given the recent controversies regarding the TV viewing habits of males 18-34, it makes sense for The WB to move content online, since its TV audience skews toward the younger users. In addition, since The WB is not as entrenched as the other broadcast networks, it is in the most flexible position to offer TV shows online. Promotion of these shows online will help The WB attract more eyeballs to its site and gain some critical mass for future advertising opportunities. The downside is the infrastructure costs and the possibility of thinning the rerun audience."
Scott Brown, Nielsen Media Research's SVP of strategic relationships, marketing and technologies, says, "TV tomorrow will make heavy use of the Internet as yet another sophisticated delivery vehicle available to millions across the globe. It is simply a matter of leveraging a backbone that already exists."
