You CAN Advertise Digital TV Shows On Cable TV -- If You Have The Right Business Model

by Wayne Friedman, Jan 31, 2012, 4:51 PM

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Are you marketing an original TV show on the Internet -- and hoping to get an audience of a decent size? You need to advertise on TV. At least that's what those behind Glenn Beck’s digital video efforts seem to think.

A regular schedule of commercials has run on the likes of MSNBC, CNN and elsewhere (Fox News, we presume), encouraging viewers to sample Beck's online evening show, under a free trial, for 30 days.

After that trial, for just Beck's main show, airing from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., it'll cost consumers $4.95 a month. Access to all of Beck's GVTV.com costs $9.95 a month, or $99.50 a year. You can get try the entire site under a free trial for 14 days.

The spot has Beck -- on a TV set -- plainly asking people what they are doing between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., concluding with the marketing line, which is also on his website, that "The Truth Lives Here."

You don't see much, if any, other TV marketing for original Internet shows. That’s because the marketing costs can be too high when weighed against possible ad revenue gains for those shows.

Some digital executives would say that much of this isn't needed -- that social media and other buzz are enough to bring viewers and success to much more modestly budgeted Web-centric shows, some that can get 1 million or so regular viewers.

Additionally, digital video executives tout the idea that social media -- more specifically, recommendations from friends and other people -- is much more effective these days than traditional paid advertising, especially for Internet video shows.

The difference is that Beck's digital effort is targeted as a higher- hurdled paid-for news opinion TV project. Reports suggest Beck already has 230,000 monthly subscribers and is grabbing $27.6 million a year. 

Unlike many other original video shows on the Internet, Beck already has some built-in brand name appeal -- though not of the higher profile he had  he was on Fox News. All this may sound like a good business, especially when targeting core Beck aficionados.

Even though Beck is getting a tenth of the viewers his daily Fox News show received, these digital video revenue projections means it makes sense to spend some regular media money on daytime cable TV news networks.

Whatever the political leanings of new digital TV show entrepreneurs, many will be watching.

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