Marketing In A New Era

It didn’t take television long to see the writing on the wall. A major shift brought millions of people to the internet to find their news and entertainment.  Now, not only are there millions on the internet, but those people are easier to target when marketing. 

If you sell food you can advertise on a food website where people come to get free recipes and watch cooking shows online. You can find major food chains, distributors and brands sponsoring the shows and selling their wares to people who want to hear about it. And, purchasing is just a click away if you want to buy something online while you’re thinking about it. How convenient!

In an age of TiVo and DVRs where people can skip commercials how are consumers finding out about products?  How will the entertainment media capture the attention of these consumers and get them to watch commercials?  It’s a dilemma that many agencies have found an answer too. Advertise on the internet. Let the consumers look for you. Advertise using interactive means or funny videos. That is how you’re going to reach consumers.

The days of celebrity sponsorship and product placement may be coming back!  Now the internet has online episodic shows that many call “webisodes” that are gaining in popularity and have advertising agencies salivating to sponsor.  These online shows are winning Emmy Awards and gaining the attention of big sponsors who want online audiences to associate them with the shows.  Prom Queen, Lonelygirl 15,  The Lonesome Losers, Ask A Ninja and Sanctuary have gained huge audiences and huge sponsorships.  Sanctuary spent millions of dollars on its online show and there’s no doubt they’re raking in sponsorship money that will allow them to make a profit off their show. Of course these are the same people who brought you Stargate the television series and Startgate: Atlantis. 

The Lonesome Losers which was featured on Funny or Die, MySpace and AtomFilms is a weekly show about a couple of guys who use romance novels to give dating advice.  Executive producer and creator Sheila Clover English says the show is perfect for product placement of books, dating sites, personal hygiene products and even computers since the two main characters are loveable nerds.  Companies selling these type of products could sponsor the show and have their product placed somewhere in the show, mentioned by one or both characters, put into the credits at the end and featured on the show’s website www.thelonesomelosers.com.  

“Sponsorship for online shows is a lot less expensive than you might think,” says Sheila Clover English.  “We’re currently putting together a media kit to send to sponsors and for the cost of a single print ad in a national magazine a company would be able to advertise over a 12 week period.”  A season for The Lonesome Losers runs once a week for 12 weeks. “Our target audience is the SNL crowd, “she continues, “We have a younger audience and we have a lot of women who watch the show as well. This is an advertising dream for less than $10,000!”

A  hit online show VIRAL which is like Entertainment Tonight for online shows and featured on  the popular online site Veoh  interviews the creators of new online webisodes and features what’s hot online.  They cover shows such as Sanctuary and The Lonesome Losers as well as events such as the Emmy’s where online shows are now nominated for awards and Prom Queen wrap party where people can go behind the scenes of these popular shows.

Shows are played on social networks, their own websites or online television stations. The Lonesome Losers plays on social sites, but can be found each week on Reader’s Entertainment TV – www.readersentertainment.tv. The online station is new and is geared primarily toward readers, but utilizes original shows to bring in a younger crowd and potential readers. Comedy Central and MTV also have online shows and television stations that are losing revenue because of TiVo and DVRs are looking at showing original shows on their online stations as well.

The future of how entertainment is presented and consumed will certainly change how advertising is done.  Those who see the writing on the wall are shopping for the next hit show…online.

For information about how you can sponsor The Lonesome Losers email COS Productions at info@cosproductions.com. To see the shows mentioned in this article go to Veoh.com.