Showing that NBC's Hulu isn't the only game in town, Comcast's Internet video platform Fancast is launching a major advertising campaign to kick off the fall season.
The campaign "See It For Yourself" -- through a series of five spots -- will "recap" popular shows, including "CSI:Miami," "Glee," "NCIS," "How I Met Your Mother" and the classic television show "Gilligan's Island."
The cross-platform effort -- encompassing TV, online and outdoor -- was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Three of its TV spots will debut on CBS, which is a Fancast partner. The campaign will run for 13 weeks, starting with Wednesday night's season premiere of "NCIS." All television spots will also run on national cable networks.
CBS is the only one of the big four networks that is not a partner in Hulu.com., which is co-owned by NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney Co.
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Fancast is about one-third the size of Hulu in terms of unique visitors a month -- with an estimated 5 million. Earlier in the year, Hulu started a big TV campaign, including one highly visible spot in the Super Bowl featuring Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock."
Hulu currently pulls in around $80 million in advertising revenue, according to a number of research executives, with YouTube.com -- the industry leader in terms of ad revenue for Internet video -- generating an estimated $100 million.
Through a distribution deal, Fancast also services some of Hulu's programming. Fancast.com has more than 10,000 hours of online video programming.
The Fancast creative illustrates that water-cooler talk with friends and business colleagues about TV is no match for actual TV clips and programming.
The online part of the campaign will feature one-click online video banners, offering cliffhanger clips of shows that provide instant access to Fancast. Comcast will also use its owned online properties, such as E!, Style and Daily Candy, to build Fancast awareness online and offline.
For the outdoor portion of the campaign, there will be interactive bus shelter messaging. Four interactive bus shelters around the San Francisco area will let commuters search, choose and watch a variety of TV clips on outdoor screens as they await transport.