• by Wayne Friedman , March 26, 2010

With its young consumers moving more aggressively to watching TV shows on the Internet, the CW has started selling combined traditional/online advertising packages to TV marketers.

CW can do this because it has been doubling its commercial load online -- from 10 to 20 30-second commercials -- which exactly matches its traditional national TV commercial load.

"It's been something we have been looking at since the first of the year," says Rob Tuck, executive vice president of network advertising sales for the CW. "We have been seeing tremendous growth, particularly when you look at our demographics."

MediaVest Worldwide has made media buys for its clients; Tuck said CW has secured almost a dozen scatter market deals so far. Tuck will promote this at the CW upfront, pushing all clients to buy a combined TV/Internet packages. Many marketers would get one TV spot matching an Internet commercial spot.

But how will marketers get demographics results in their usual post media reports?

For a long time, traditional TV marketers have complained they can't get day and date demographic results like they do on traditional TV -- thus their avoidance in buying premium TV shows on the Internet.

Tuck says the network will use Nielsen's monthly VideoCensus report to gain demographic knowledge, along with the viewer numbers provided by DoubleClick. Marketers can get specific VPVH (viewing per hundred viewers) numbers from that report. In essence, VPVH gives marketers a percentage of specific viewer groups -- say, the percentage of women 18-34 who are watching "Gossip Girl" or "America's Next Top Model."

He acknowledges that Nielsen's VideoCensus report isn't perfect, but considering that CW's traditional TV VPVHs almost perfectly match its VPVHs online number, it has been acceptable to agencies. This isn't all that new. Some media agencies have been posting online buys this way to give advertising clients a projection for their specific deal demographic.

Considering the niche target of CW -- virtually targeting only the women 18-34 demographic -- it's an easier jump for marketers, says Tuck.

How are the packages being priced? "It's going to be priced like TV," he explains. That should be somewhat of a deal for advertisers -- since CPMs have generally been higher than that of television.

CW has seen a 60% improvement in the streaming of its episodes on its site. In the fourth quarter, it has 26 million video streams initiated, amassing a total of nine million hours streaming.