• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 2, 2006

ORLANDO - ABC will make this season's final four episodes of mega-hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" available free online as part of its new MyABC service. A third show, possibly "Commander in Chief," will also be included in the initiative this spring, which will be supported by interactive video advertising.

The episodes will be open for on-demand viewing 12 hours after they air on the network. Each episode will be supported by a single advertiser, which will run three spots within each episode's stream.

ABC, which expects to sign roughly 10 advertisers for the test program, is encouraging the marketers to include an interactive element within their spots, allowing users to click through to a Web site. The advertisers will be rotated through the service.

The program is "designed to test interactive advertising," according to Mike Shaw, ABC's president of sales and marketing.

Shaw, who spoke on a panel at the American Association of Advertising Agencies Media Conference and Trade Show, said the third show is yet to be determined, though it won't be "Grey's Anatomy." Instead, a lower-rated show, perhaps "Commander in Chief," will join the big-time hits, with the season's last four episodes available.

The three spots within each episode -- expected to be a traditional 30-second spot and two others with interactive capabilities that could run longer -- will occur at the beginning and then twice within the episode's run. Viewers will not be able to fast-forward through the content or ads, though they will be able to visit an advertiser's Web site while viewing continues.

Shaw said he expects the advertisers to produce special creative for the interactive opportunity.

MyABC, which was unveiled by Disney CEO Bob Iger at a presentation to analysts this week, is part of Iger's push to experiment with new distribution platforms and business models.

Separately, Shaw said ABC will launch a new research service providing a new type of rating, one that measures a viewer's engagement with a particular brand. The rating will be calculated by combining data from Nielsen, MRI and Prism. The mixed data will then be run through a new software application developed by Lake 5 Media to yield a rating tabulating a viewer's response to a brand.

For example, Shaw said, Ford would be able to gauge how effective advertising for the Taurus brand is when it runs in "Lost." It's part of a push to respond to marketer's eagerness for increased ROI metrics, he said.

"We're trying to get below the buying segment and get to the marketing segment," Shaw said.