Looking to perhaps curry favor over possible angry TV sports fans, the NBA will offer its pricey out-of-market games to consumers free for the first two weeks of the season.The free preview will run from Dec. 26, 2011 to Jan 8, 2012. This league is starting its shortened season on Christmas Day, as a result of the protracted labor and owner disagreement.NBA League Pass has a $169 price tag for a year's worth of live out-of-market games. Typically, consumers can get up to 40 games per week across 10 channels. This year, NBA League Pass subscribers will not only be granted access to all the games on NBA.com, but for the first time, viewing of games on mobile devices -- all included in the yearly package price.With the purchase of NBA League Pass on digital cable, subscribers get access to NBA League Pass Broadband and NBA League Pass Mobile on an "authenticated" basis. This means that consumers need to be subscribers of a multichannel program distributor, like a cable operator.NBA League Pass comes from video-on-demand/pay-per-view TV program provider iN Demand, which is owned by Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Entertainment-Advance/Newhouse Partnership. Among the cable/TV companies offering the package: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Bright House Networks and Verizon FiOS, plus a number of independent affiliates around the country.Some of the features of the package include same-day replays of games, dual-feed telecasts of home and visiting team announcers, a multi-screen mosaic, which offers up multiple screen of snapshots of live action games around the league, and a stats channel and HD games.
Top-rated TV shows like "American Idol" generally will be the top show when it comes to consumer search engine requests. But some surprises continue to make any end-of-year TV search list. That's what InfoSpace's Dogpile, a meta-search engine, determined for 2011. Others on its top 10 list included: "Dancing with the Stars" in second place, "NCIS" in fourth place and "Glee" in fifth. But there were also two syndicated shows in the big list. While the search "Oprah" rang up a sixth-place nod -- no doubt due to her last season on the job after 25 years -- perhaps the most surprising spot went to "Dr. Oz" in third place. Dogpile says it was the first time the Sony Television show made the list. One guesses the high results came from a rise in daytime viewers looking for further medical/health information. NBC's "Today Show" was another non-prime-time show in the mix, good for seventh place. NBC's new singing competition show "The Voice" was in eighth place, among all those consumers searching TV shows in 2011. Fox's fall singing competition show "X Factor," just now completing its first season, came in ninth. CBS' summer reality "Big Brother" was 10th. When looking at TV/radio news networks/programs, the most searches in 2011 came for "CNN News." Fox News was next, followed by "Nancy Grace" and "60 Minutes." Dogpile says the next-most-searched show was Sirius XM's "The Howard Stern Show," followed by "NBC Nightly News," "The Dave Ramsey Show," "Anderson Cooper 360," "The Daily Show" and "The Rachel Maddow Show." Dogpile compiles search results from Google, Yahoo, and Bing, among others. Its results are compiled from hundreds of millions of queries.
As the New Year approaches, many of us are thinking about how to lead cleaner, healthier lives. Some of us may even take that thought right onto reality television. Over the past few years, there’s been a surge in reality-TV programming dedicated to issues of substance abuse, addiction, and recovery. These include the long-standing “Intervention” (A&E), launching season 12 on Jan. 2; “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” (VH1), which just ended its fifth season; and the newbie on the block, “DUI,” which debuted Dec. 1 on TLC. This may sound like a lot of sensationalism—until you realize that there are more than 22 million Americans dealing with the disease of addiction to alcohol and other substances, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. So how do you market shows like this? Carefully. I interviewed marketing, publicity and production executives involved in these shows, and came up with “12 Steps to a Successful Recovery TV Marketing Campaign.”1. Know your show. Yes, the shows are entertainment, first; yes, they’re reality-based. But they’re also cautionary tales. “It’s dangerous content,” says Dan Partland, executive producer of “Intervention.” “We knew the show’s standards had to be very high and we had to be beyond reproach if we were to tell a meaningful story.”2. Know your responsibility. The executives are aware that they’re helping create awareness of a topic rife with stigma and shame. “‘Celebrity Rehab” gets people talking about addiction and sheds light on what rehab is all about,” says Valerie Allen, Dr. Drew’s personal publicist.3. Know your audience. And who is that exactly? Everyone I talked to said that they were appealing to a “mainstream” audience. “DUI” executive producer Jim Kowats says simply, “Americans like to watch failure and redemption.” But given the statistic above, mainstream now includes plenty of people touched by addiction—including the family and friends of people struggling with the disease. 4. Start small and slow. “Back in 2005, when we first put Intervention on the air, it was kind of a radical idea for a show,” says Guy Slattery, SVP of marketing for A&E. “It was the first show of its kind so we weren’t really sure what the response would be,” adds Partland. Given its sensitive nature, they started with a soft launch and a word-of-mouth campaign to gauge audience reaction before investing in more costly traditional marketing campaigns.5. Go organic. A show as “radical” as “Intervention” needs time to find its audience. Fortunately for A&E, recovery communities embraced the show and it grew from there—with a mainstream audience growing alongside. With “Celebrity Rehab,” “There were some critics who felt the show went too far and others who thought it didn't go far enough,” says Allen. Ultimately, the show succeeded on its own terms.6. Go raw with promos. Every network kicks off a new series with on-air promos. What’s different with each of these shows is the creative: seemingly raw footage of the participants—no dramatic music or voice-of-doom narration. “It’s not about showing these people as bad so you’ll watch the episode. The promos are treated with integrity in the same way the shows are,” says Partland. Before the launch of “DUI,” TLC released sneak-peek footage to the press—no sensationalism, just footage.7. Listen to viewer feedback. “Since day one, we’ve received an overwhelming response from families who say the show has changed their lives by offering hope, inspiration and solutions,” says Slattery. “We’ve also learned from them that addiction doesn’t live in a vacuum—we need to address the whole family dynamic both in the show and in our marketing approach.”8. Emphasize your credentials. Airing rehab sessions with troubled celebrities would have a major eye-rolling factor if it weren’t for the credibility of Drew Pinsky, who figures prominently in ads and PR campaigns. Pinsky, an M.D. with board certifications in internal and addiction medicine, has worked with addicts for nearly 30 years. “He was already a well-respected expert in the field and beloved by the addiction community,” says Allen.9. Expand the brand. Not with sweatshirts or bobble-heads, but with efforts that befit the subject. Thanks to the positive response of the recovery community to “Intervention,” A&E launched The Recovery Project “to generate awareness that addiction is a treatable disease and recovery is possible.” With a big Facebook presence and national outreach, The Recovery Project hosts town hall meetings and Recovery Month events, and creates partnerships with nonprofits like Partnership for a Drug Free America. 10. Let your people speak. “‘Intervention” participants become ambassadors for the show and for recovery,” says Partland. A meth addict from Minnesota named Sara went on to work in her local police department, speaks to teens about the dangers of substance abuse, and appeared on “Oprah.” “People like Tom Sizemore, Mackenzie Phillips, Steven Adler and others serve as an inspiration and remove the stigma for others to seek treatment,” adds Allen. 11. Win an Emmy. In 2009, A&E sent a screener to Television Academy voters in an effort to get them to watch “Intervention.” They did. And the show won the Emmy for “Outstanding Reality Series.” 12. Look for the next big thing. Is the market saturated with recovery programming? Not necessarily. A colleague of mine, Jennifer Musselman, a former PR executive for Nickelodeon, is now a psychotherapist treating individuals and families dealing with substance abuse. She suggests that, unfortunately, there’s still plenty of material in this arena. “Right now, the untapped story is adolescent substance abuse, which the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University calls ‘the No. 1 public health problem in the United States,’” says Musselman. “Ironically, we haven’t seen the reality of what’s happening with adolescent substance dependence reflected in reality television. Reality TV done responsibly may not resolve it, but it could be an important prevention tool. If tweens and teens see its devastating consequences and parents become better informed, we just might start attacking the problem that so many families are affected by today.” Stay tuned.
CIMM is taking a pro-active role in advancing new media nomenclature and processes with both the Lexicon(terms and definitions associated with Set-Top-Box data measurement) and recently released Asset Identification Primer (glossary of asset terms). These documents form the basis of this column, which offers a common language for Set-Top-Box nomenclature that can expedite the rollout of the data for its many industry applications. DVR penetration is approaching critical mass. A large part of the hand-wringing over DVR roll-out is the fear of increased opportunities for consumer commercial avoidance. In the past, viewers could avoid ads by multitasking, muting via their remote or even leaving the room. Now, with relative ease, viewers can use their DVRs to skip commercials by fast-forwarding through them in trick play (Set-Top-Box Lexicon: Trick Play) mode. While there are increasing instances where fast-forwarding is disabled, the majority of content can still be viewed in trick-play mode. Not all trick play is commercial avoidance, but the ease and facility of the DVR trick-play capability arguably contributes to it. Here are some terms and definitions concerning commercial avoidance: Commercial AvoidanceSee also: Ad Skipping CIMM DEFINITION : Use of trick play or channel switching to avoid viewing commercials. Trick play in this case can be fast-forwarding, skipping ahead or muting. Also includes viewers leaving the room to avoid commercials, changing channels or engaging in other activities. Ad SkippingSee also: Commercial Avoidance, Trick Play, Measured Ad Skipping CIMM DEFINITION : The act of fast-forwarding (or skipping ahead as on TIVO) and therefore not completely viewing an ad. It is one possible result of a viewer using the trick play mode of DVRs and other recording devices. NOTE – There are other forms of commercial avoidance such mental tune-out, conversation, other activities e.g. reading, using a phone or a computer device. (Source: TRA) Measured Ad SkippingSee also: Ad Skipping CIMM DEFINITION : Ad skipping based on actual Set-Top-Box tune-away data. (Source: Visible World) MuteSee also: Commercial Avoidance, Trick Play CIMM DEFINITION : Can be done in live mode or one possible trick-play mode where the sound is lowered to an inaudible level. Is considered part of Commercial Avoidance. Please refer to the CIMM Lexicon online at http://www.cimm-us.org/lexicon.htm for additional information on these and other terms.
If you’re working today, you probably need an online video pick-me-up, rather than more stats, research or news on this fabulous and fast-growing sector of the digital ad economy. And what better form for said spirits-booster to come in than a cat video? As readers may know, cat videos are - paws down - my favorite Web videos. Plus, this one has an ad angle. The social media ad agency Big Fuel Communications, known for its work on behalf of Bravo, GM, Clorox and others, partnered with the Humane Society of NY to create a cat video calendar. For all 31 days of the month, Big Fuel and the Humane Society of NY are presenting short cat videos starring homeless cats available for adoption. “Catvent2011.com is our take on the traditional Advent calendar, filled with studio-quality cat videos celebrating historical and holiday-related events throughout the month of December. 31 days of cat videos. 31+ adoptable cats. Take home a new friend for the holidays,” Big Fuel said. Like this fella. Catvent 2011, Dec 21: Leelou Dances The Hora For Hanukkah from Big Fuel on Vimeo.