Commentary

New Ways To Market TV Shows: It's In The Bag

TV promo season is upon us. But where are the commercials for upcoming TV shows? They're out there somewhere, I'm guessing. Yes, I've seen ads for CBS' new "Hawaii Five-O," Fox's "Lone Star" and other shows.

Some analysts, like media agency television analyst Steve Sternberg, say it seems there are fewer promos around this summer season than in previous ones. What are the actual numbers? Network marketing executives keep the data, from those TV promo tracking companies, close to the vest.

Still, if there's less marketing effort for fall TV shows, you could blame an old reliable whipping post: broadcast ratings erosion, which probably has eroded further in this traditionally sleepy and rerun-laden period.

TV marketers are increasingly counting on other areas to make up the slack. We speak, of course, of the big popular culture fan convention, Comic-Con in San Diego, and the expected 150,000 TV rabid entertainment consumers -- "deputized" TV marketers for the week -- who senior TV executives hope will blog, social network, and text-message about new and existing shows and entertainment.

advertisement

advertisement

Comic-Con is still new enough for TV shows to use blindly with not much research to back it up, with the possible exception of those newfangled "buzz" meters that are all the rage.

While TV is heavily dependent on traditional on-air TV promos -- still one of the most effective marketing tools for launching new shows -- networks continue to desperately seek other media platforms, some of which are very analog. At Comic-Con, for example, shows are promoted not just on walls, buses, and other outside media, but on bags for fans to carry.

You think bags aren't that interesting? Talk to Warner Bros., one studio that has been going to the event for many years. It is bringing 11 different totes, each with high-style graphics from its TV shows (or a major programming franchise). Other studios are also ready to deliver elaborately designed totes, which can become slow-moving, close-to-the ground, or on-the-shoulder billboards.

And you thought all that was needed was a Facebook or Twitter account to get viewer attention. You're wrong. After all, how are you going to carry your "Twilight: New Moon" "Without You" Ring Set?

Next story loading loading..