2008: The Birth of Online TV - Sample Pages

FROM CHAPTER 4:  HOW DOES ONLINE TV MAKE MONEY?

Advertising and sponsorship

Ad-supported shows

• Via video advertising, such as pre-rolls or video overlays

Prom Queen

• US teen murder mystery, produced by Michael Eisner’s new media studio Vuguru, with multiple sponsors.
• New Line promoted the movie Hairspray with three-second pre-roll (“brought to you by”) and a 15-seond post-roll promoting a sweepstake.

Branded entertainment

• Sponsor is also creator or sponsor from inception

Crescent Heights

• US ensemble comedy about a young woman starting a new life in Los Angeles, sponsored by P&G’s Tide.

HamptonHighRevealed.com

• Six-week online show created for Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue contact lenses

In the Motherhood

• US comedy about three mothers, starring Leah Remini, that invited women to send in their true-life experiences for the script.
• Sponsored by Suave (hair, skin, deodorant products) and Sprint (mobile operator).

It’s a Mall World

• US sitcom about young adults working in a mall, one as an American Eagle greeter – sponsored by American Eagle Outfitters.

Where are the Joneses?

• UK interactive mockumentary about a sister and brother travelling Europe to find their numerous siblings via their sperm-donating father, sponsored by Ford.
• The show’s premise perfectly fits a car maker, making the S-MAX, provided by Ford in a unique shade of purple, integral to the show.

Product placement

• Multiple, non-exclusive deals and/or sponsor not involved as creator.

KateModern

• London-based drama spinoff from Lonelygirl15, commissioned by the Bebo social networking site, with revenue from extensive product placement.
• Bebo president of international Joanna Shields took the show’s creators on advertiser pitches to explain how they would include specific brands into the storyline.
• Brand owners that signed up included Procter & Gamble (for Gillette, Tampax and Pantene), MSN, Orange Mobile, Paramount, Disney/Buena Vista and Warner Music.
• The rate is a $200,000 - $500,000 fee for three to six month product placement.
• Paramount saw it as “a testing ground for new ways to market its movies, away from standard campaign sites,” promoting several films, including Hallam Foe.
• Warner Music had its band The Days featured.
• For the second season, starting in January 2008, the first sponsors were Cadbury's Creme Egg and Toyota, for their youth-targeted Aygo car.

FROM CHAPTER 5: PRODUCTION IN ACTION

Production: show and season lengths

Very short forms vs narrative

Arguably the single most contentious issue in online television production is how long an episode should be. There is a widespread preconception that online viewers will not watch video for more than a few minutes. Says Mark Karlan, media strategist at Lowe Worldwide, New York: “We know people’s attention spans online are short.”

But is this true? And why are so many producers shooting episodes at more than five minutes? Geoff Goodwin, head of the multi-platform teen service BBC Switch, sums up the assumption about length: “[People say] ‘Oh, they’ve got 19 things in their room, so we’re only going to be able to get them for 3.8 minutes, so we need to do [episodes at] that length.’

“But videogames are as long as they’ve ever been. Sit down and play Halo and the promise is you’re there for weeks. Look at the Harry Potter films and Lord of the Rings, some of the popular media for this generation. It’s long and getting longer.”

The assumption that episodes have to be one to five minutes long comes at least in part from the content on video sharing sites such as YouTube, which are very often at that length. Yet it is important to bear in mind that YouTube caps video length at 10 minutes. It is not possible to upload a longer clip. And many YouTube contributors are not working in scripted narrative formats, but producing video blog entries that do not require 15 minute running times.

Another consideration is the commercial pressure to keep it short. Kathleen Grace, co-creator of The Burg, sums up the tension between advertiser requirements and narrative. “The ad industry says three to five minutes because you can get more impressions and views with shorter content. But we've had very successful episodes that are longer. Our general barometer for The Burg and The All-For-Nots has been if we got bored while watching it. If it feels tight and moves along then we don't worry about the number of minutes it is. People will watch five minutes, 15 minutes, or even 22 minutes online as long as it's compelling.”

FROM APPENDIX II: SHOW PROFILES

In The Motherhood show profile

Synopsis US comedy about three mothers, starring Leah Remini, that invited women to send in their true-life experiences for the script; sponsored by Sprint and Suave.

Production company Conceived by Mindshare Entertainment, video by Science + Fiction, interactivity by FanLib.

Commissioner / sponsor / revenue

• Co-sponsored by Sprint and Unilever’s Suave.
• Unilever promoted the Suave range of hair, skin and deodorant products: Suave is “a brand for the average mom who puts her family first.”
• Mobile operator Sprint promoted its family safety, family calling and entertainment services (see character playlists below).

Budget Approx $1m.

Number of episodes and length 5 X 5 mins.

TX dates and schedule

• Show premiered 11 May 2007 (also on The Ellen DeGeneres Show), with subsequent episodes on 22 May, 29 May, 5 June and 12 June.

Key innovative and interactive features

• Show invited target audience of mothers to contribute script ideas fromtheir own real-life experiences, with site users voting which ideas were best: prizes included a Sprint mobile phone, a Suave gift package and consultation with a local Suave stylist.
• Characters had profiles on Windows Live Spaces.
• Characters had Sprint Digital Lounge music playlists.

Distribution

• Show site www.inthemotherhood.com
• Online: MSN | Suave | Sprint site | Sprint TV (mobile) | FanLib for contributions.
• Television: Clips and episodes shown on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Promotion / marketing

• The Ellen DeGeneres Show also featured Remini and invited viewers to send in ideas.

Success

• Claims 5.5 m video views and that during the campaign the site was the fifth most popular site for mothers on the Web.
• Second season started in February 2008.

2008: The Birth of Online TV
About | Table of Contents | Price and Delivery