• by Shankar Gupta , March 28, 2006

Broadband entertainment site Heavy.com will soon begin its first "upfront"--a preview for select advertisers of Heavy.com's spring "Must Stream TV" offerings. The company's goal is to generate interest among marketers in product placement and other forms of sponsorships for Heavy.com's videos.

"The main strategy is to use the upfront process that happens for television now, knowing that companies are starting to shift their money into 'video' budgets instead of "TV budgets," said Heavy.com co-founder David Carson. "We're going out to a lot of the agencies to present the ideas and to get them aware of what we're doing for the rest of the year."

He added that the company hopes that the previews will spark interest in product placement opportunities. "We're not trying to sell the impressions, we're looking at integrated events around shows, and those are limited," Carson said. "Some shows that are going to be built around some brands. Most of the stuff we're doing is original shows that advertisers can be a part of."

The first of the upfront events is going to be held in Los Angeles within the next two weeks; events will follow in New York, Chicago, and Detroit.

The spring lineup includes a slate of Heavy.com's popular Machinima shows--movies made using characters and graphics from video games--as well as original shows like "Behind the Music That Sucks" and "The Massive Mating Game."