Online Video Drives TV Viewership

As their audience shares continue to slide, the major broadcast networks are becoming increasingly creative in trying to drive viewers to TV screens by streaming shows on PC screens.

The Web is clearly an alternate destination for those ever-elusive younger, affluent viewers who prefer watching video streams online to the traditional practice of setting their personal schedules for appointment viewing of their favorite TV series.

CBS, picking up where it left off last season as the current ratings front-runner, also has an edge on its network competitors as the leading innovator online. It launched social viewing rooms on CBS.com for 11 of its series in October, including mainstays “CSI” and the current “Survivor” reality incarnation, and a mix of new primetime shows, daytime standards and classics.

The concept was intended to create a communal ambiance, enabling viewers to assume online identities as they chatted with each other about what they were watching and registered critical reactions by tossing virtual tomatoes at characters they didn’t like.

“Our thought is that the Web is a completely new medium and our aim is not to simply rebroadcast what we put on air,” says Anthony Soohoo, senior vice president and general manager of social entertainment at CBS Interactive. “What we find is when people are online they want to engage in a different way. They like to share the experience. They like to have conversations about it.”

While CBS had no quantitative viewing numbers to share from its social viewing rooms, Soohoo reports that the online socializing has sparked friendships and a few romances-suggesting that the sessions are generating an audience coming back for more.

The average age of the social viewers is 36 years old, an indication that the Web videophile profile is an aging one. And Soohoo says a substantial portion of that audience is taking a second look at episodes they’ve seen on air to have the shared experience: “What we’re trying to do is to tap into two fronts: people who’ve seen it on air and people who might not have a TV.”

Media analyst Gary Arlen thinks the socialization aspect is spawned by dire necessity: “The fact is the networks are desperate to engage younger viewers and keep them engaged. The communal aspect is very important, providing the ability for people to talk about programming.”

Arlen sees the networks’ online maneuvers as works in progress to simply discover the most effective way to present video online. He also notes that it’s a new revenue stream. And eventually, Arlen believes the networks will incubate new shows on the Web to gauge viewer interest as an alternative to creating series pilots.

Soohoo sees that as a distinct possibility for CBS. He points to the short-form “Novel Adventures” Webisodes the network created with Saturn as an example of a format that could be a launching pad for a series on air. “Novel Adventures” features four women book-club members who hop in Saturn vehicles for real-life excursions inspired by their shared literary experiences.

The primary impact of streaming TV series for all networks thus far is viewing continuity, enabling fans of particular shows to catch up with episodes they’ve missed. “By making episodes available and allowing flexibility in terms of when and where shows can be watched, we’re seeing overall viewership increasing,” says Alexis Rapo, ABC vice president of digital media, who notes that viewers typically watched between six and eight episodes of a series each season before shows were streamed online.

While the potential for sampling is significant, overall viewership aggregation supporting each series is the primary benefit. “Prior to the start of the season, we see increased viewing of the previous season’s finales,” Rapo says. “Viewers want to revisit the finale’s cliffhanger or just reacquaint themselves with characters and storylines before new episodes premiere.”

ABC’s viewers for its full episodes player are 30 years old on average, affluent and educated. It draws its largest online audiences in May, reinforcing the idea that viewers are playing catch-up to see season finales.

The overall audience for network series online grew 5% in May, year-to-year, according to Nielsen Media Research, with nearly 162 million Web surfers — against 282 milliion on air viewers — watching an average of 5 1/2 hours of online video that month, compared to 154 million watching an average of about 3 1/2 hours during the same month last year. More than 217 million viewers watched episodes on mobile phones. Nielsen had no comparative numbers in that category for last year.

NBC tried to redress its also-ran status among the Big Four broadcasters with a major pre-season premiere play in September. It streamed advance screenings of 10 series on NBC.com, on Hulu.com (jointly owned with Fox), Yahoo, MSN, AOL, MySpace and Fancast.com. It also used Xbox Live on Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s Zune player as alternative preview platforms.

“The benefit of the sampling programs is that we get significant exposure from each venue, which promotes the content offering,” said John Miller, NBC chief marketing officer, in September.

That lineup included rookie entries “Knight Rider,” “Kath and Kim,” “My Worst Enemy” and “Crusoe.” The sampling doesn’t appear to have paid off, with none of those series in the current top-50-ranked shows.

CBS leads in overall primetime rankings, but is running neck-and-neck with ABC so far this season among the all-important 18- to 49-year-old viewers — the advertisers’ “sweet spot” — with NBC third in those rankings, followed by Fox.

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TRUE STORIES

Frito-Lay is pushing its TrueNorth nut snacks with a contest to find a story about one person’s life passion that will become a TV spot during next year’s Academy Awards.

The TrueNorth brand has struck a partnership with Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt, who will direct the 60-second ad spot. Consumers are being invited to submit essays now through Dec. 31 for a chance to have the story of their most compelling passion told in the spot, to air during the 81st Annual Academy Awards broadcast on Feb. 22, 2009.

TrueNorth will be the exclusive snack category advertiser during the annual film awards show. The spot will be one of several that TrueNorth will run during the pre-show and the awards show itself.

“We want to find people who have found their “True North” and put a spotlight on their powerful stories,” says Regan Ebert, vice president and general manager, warehouse direct business for Frito-Lay North America.

The personal passion spot will be the starter for a multimedia campaign on national TV, in print and online that will include three inspirational stories the brand has already discovered.

The campaign will include profiles of Gary Greff, whose sculptures adorn his hometown of Regent, ND; Majora Carter, an ecology activist in the Bronx, NY; and Teddy Gross, who is empowering children with the power of a penny.
— Rich Tedesco