• by Paul Gough , July 11, 2002

A soon-to-be launched digital network aimed at 18- to 34-year-olds has snagged its first big advertiser.

Anheuser-Busch Co. Inc. reached a multi-million-dollar, multi-year agreement with the Brief Original Broadcasts in a deal announced Wednesday. The network, BOB for short, is dedicated to short, independently-produced content running one- to eight-minutes.

There’s no schedule and no set plan for viewing. The plan is to have a fast-moving, dynamic offering of shorts from comedy to drama and everything in between. It’s an effort to attract the attention of the network’s demographic, which in itself has a rather short attention span.

“It’s completely varied,” said Dan O’Brien, CEO of the Littleton, Colo.-based BOB. “It’s not appointment viewing.” Or as founder and president Olivier Katz calls it: “a 24/7 cool film festival.”

The unconventional approach – company officials said there’s nothing like it on TV right now and only a scattering of websites – requires an unconventional approach to advertising, too.

“We won’t have the 30-second spot,” said O’Brien.

Advertisements will be a lot like the shorts themselves: Quick-moving, creative and innovative. Katz said the changing advertising landscape brought on by TiVo and other commercial-skip technologies means that firms have “to elevate advertising to an art form.”

Katz said BOB is uniquely positioned “to address the ongoing fusion of advertising and entertainment.” He foresees “trend-setting visual pieces” like the never-seen-on-broadcast-TV ads done for BMW.

Katz said these “brand clips” allow advertisements to connect with customers in ways that weren’t possible several years ago.

BOB hopes to get four to eight “charter advertisers” who will get the pick of slots at the lowest prices.

Anheuser-Busch will be the network’s only alcoholic beverage company sponsor. Katz said the beer maker is a good choice to advertise on the new network.

“Anheuser-Busch has a long history of relationships with every facet of the entertainment industry,” particularly in the cutting edge, Katz said. “They want to be associated with what they think will be a new paradigm.”

And as free-form as BOB’s programming will be, the advertising will be also. There won’t be a specific number of advertising spots per hour, O’Brien said. Company officials hope to have advertising and content that flows together seamlessly.

O’Brien said that many potential advertisers are excited by the possibilities. He said other deals are close but there’s nothing to announce yet. Close also are deals for distribution, which would allow BOB to appear on cable and satellite systems.

BOB will also look at other advertising opportunities, particularly in co-branding, to bring about more recognition of the name and cable network. O’Brien declined to release specifics until deals were made.