• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 2, 2008

Telemundo has shelved one of the most innovative gambits offered in last year's upfront--a commercial-free evening soap opera supported solely by branded integration. The roadblock: not enough advertiser interest to make it financially viable.

The program, telenovela "Idolos de Juventud," was scheduled to debut this summer, running Monday through Friday from 7 to 8 p.m. for eight weeks (40 episodes).

Advertisers were first exposed to the concept during meetings leading up to Telemundo's 2007 upfront presentation, when the idea was unveiled publicly.

During the ensuing negotiations, Telemundo sought to ink deals with five marketers eager to gamble on various brand integrations, in lieu of 30-second spots (two additional marketers were to be signed up in the scatter market). The integrations could include making a brand a linchpin in a story line--not to mention the accompanying slew of prominent camera shots. But deals did not materialize.

"The timing wasn't perfect for us," said Mike Rodriguez, the head of sales at Telemundo, part of NBC Universal. "We had a few clients that really loved it, but the interest wasn't as much as we thought it would be. I think we took a step back and thought maybe it's just not the right time for us."

(Much of the pitching last summer was done by former Telemundo sales chief Steve Mandala, who now oversees sales for all NBCU cable networks.)

Rodriguez declined to comment on how advanced negotiations were with prospective advertisers. The aim was to cut the deals and then begin production early this year, with the integrations written in. ("Idolos" was to involve a lover's quarrel and an "American Idol"-style singing competition in Mexico.)

"We gauged the interest, and several marketers were ahead of the curve and many weren't," said Rodriguez. "It just didn't work out timing-wise."

Financially, Telemundo needed to persuade advertisers to pony up enough to equal or exceed the revenue it receives for running, say, 16 minutes of commercials an hour.

Ken Cervantes, an executive at MediaVest's multicultural buying arm, said the concept was "intriguing" and the agency considered it, but had concerns about "how cluttered the environment would have been."

Cervantes was referring to the possibility that so much branded integration could prove to be a viewer turn-off. But in a sense, that runs counter to one of Telemundo's goals: to reduce clutter by eliminating the commercials.

While the "Idolos" experiment failed to take shape, another innovative play aimed at boosting viewer retention has made it to prime time--although not quite as promised. Also announced during last year's upfront presentation, Telemundo said it would launch the "Power Pod," where it would reformat all prime-time programming to limit the first break to 60 seconds.

The "Power Pods" are currently used periodically in the 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. hours. A Telemundo representative said they have been employed in four telenovelas, and while not in every episode, have been used "a great majority of the time." Rodriguez said they bring "premium" pricing.

As this summer's upfront market moves forward, Telemundo is offering advertisers what it calls opportunities for "concept integration." By owning its content, Telemundo can explore a number of integration models, while also extending the programming to multiple platforms.

Under the new initiative, Telemundo is looking to work with advertisers starting early in the development and production process--to provide "custom marketing and advertising solutions." Included are opportunities to devise programming adaptations for digital and other platforms.

This past March, Telemundo executives held discussions with advertisers about the network's new-season development. And Rodriguez said "they told us what they thought about our programming, and we told them what we thought we could do for them."