• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 4, 2009

In an economic climate where marketers are often forced to make budget decisions almost week to week, programming that can be produced as often may have an added benefit for a network.

Viacom's CMT has signed three recent deals allowing it to swiftly integrate a brand into content, without the lag time required for a drama or comedy shot so far in advance.

This week, Procter & Gamble is launching a weekly "Top 20 Rewind" vignette, a link with CMT's flagship country-music video series "Top 20 Countdown." Other initiatives include an Ask.com connection with those videos, and a "character" from a coming DreamWorks Animation film bobbing onto the set of a weekly magazine series.

The P&G shorts last two to three minutes, and provide a quick redux of the previous week's "Countdown" show. The pieces can include banter between the host and previous guest, plus a rundown of the top three country videos. (Dolly Parton is in the debut.)

The segments open with a billboard for a P&G hair care product--either Nice 'n Easy or Pantene--then continue with a banner overlaid on the top third of the screen. The vignettes are created by the producers of "Top 20 Countdown," a two-and-a-half-hour show that starts airing each Friday, then continues over the weekend.

A "Rewind" piece is produced each week and airs twice on weekdays during the a.m. block, helping to supplement the traditional ads P&G airs in the morning.

The pieces mark an added tactic for P&G, the country's largest advertiser, on the network. The company has a one-year deal in which it owns all the inventory during the daily two-hour morning block of videos.

"There's a huge canvas to work with in terms of creating custom content during that time period," says Anthony Barton, vice president of integrated marketing at CMT.

The sponsored vignettes function partly as so-called "podbusters," a device Viacom has increasingly used to build audience retention during breaks. Earlier this week, as he evaluated prospects for what looks to be a difficult upfront market, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said integrated-marketing relationships with advertisers might serve as a buffer.

"That's going to be a real strength in a tough economy as we head into the upfront," he told investors.

CMT's Ask.com push involves at least two aspects. During "Top 20 Countdown," host Lance Smith asks a trivia question about an artist--Keith Urban, Taylor Swift--and then directs viewers to the search engine to find the answer.

To grow site visitors, Ask.com's toolbar is overlaid on screen during an artist's videos, and the question is seen being typed in. (CMT's Barton says it's "using the toolbar in a somewhat organic way.")

Separately, CMT has an Ask.com deal involving newcomer country act the Carter Twins, in which their videos air on the channel. Questions are posed within the search engine's toolbar.

Such arrangements have roots in Ask.com's recent partnership with NASCAR, which has an audience with a profile that enjoys crossover with frequent CMT viewers. The search engine marks a new client for the network--and perhaps an opportunity to better measure marketing effectiveness. Potentially, Ask.com could track how many visitors head to its site seeking answers to a particular question after it is posed on air. CMT's Barton says the initiative could employ that "direct response" model.

CMT does provide the questions to Ask in advance, allowing it to sharpen search engine optimization to best direct visitors to the answers.

The "Countdown" and Carter Twins-videos initiatives may have an additional benefit for CMT: When a consumer heads to Ask to search for answers, they are often directed to CMT.com for the information.

The DreamWorks arrangement (Paramount is the marketer) involves the soon-to-be-released "Monsters vs. Aliens" and two weekly-produced CMT series: "CMT Insider," a magazine-style show that melds country music and pop culture, and "Southern Fried Flicks," part film/part cooking series.

Later this month, a "character" from the animated film will cross the screen during an episode of "Insider" and host Katie Cook will reach into "him" and toss a slime ball at the screen. On "Southern Fried Flicks," the same will happen with host Hazel Smith "eaten" by what's known as "B.O.B."