Altyrian View

NBC Universal is at it again. They have created a “real person” social media account for a character in a television show. This time it’s Sci-Fi Channel’s original Eureka that is getting into the social media act. According to this AdWeek article, S.A.R.A.H. the talking AI house has a Twitter account.

Fantastic idea! NBC is brining the Eureka experience to those that enjoy the show. Without additional filming, NBC is about to feed those who love the show extra insights into the characters and the plot lines.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that NBC has taken this approach. Dwight from the Office has a blog and Chuck also had a Twitter account.

That’s my Altyrian View.

The following is a blog post from Altyris intern Eunhee Lee. As part of the internship, we have set up a blog at interns.altyrianview.com. I shamelessly stole her post because more people should be able to read it. Well done, Eunhee!

I recently read an article about the court’s decision on FCC’s charge on CBS for “indecent exposure” during Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance during the 2004 Super Bowl. The court overruled 2-to-1 the fines and charges made by the FCC on the basis that Jackson and Timberlake are not CBS employees but independent contractors and certain “fleeting” incidents are hard to prevent no matter what measures are taken, especially on live programming like the Super Bowl. And while I believe that the FCC has good intentions and several of their regulations are beneficial, I have to agree with the court and side with the broadcasters. Couple reasons for this:

1) Some things can’t be controlled. Let’s be real. CBS could have done everything within their powers to prevent incidents, but in a live program where they don’t have authority over the people on air, Janet’s exposure couldn’t be censored.

2) If the FCC won the case and starts charging broadcasters for “fleeting” incidents, who knows what they’ll try to control next. Again, I agree with some of their regulations like disallowing targeting tobacco products to minors and no underage persons on alcohol advertisments. I even agree with regulations against targeting very young children (fast-food companies shouldn’t lure toddlers in with toys. Childhood obesity in America is a growing problem and if I had children, I wouldn’t want them watching Elmo or Pokemon trying to sell them a 1,000-calorie kid’s meal). But what if eventually a beach vacation ad isn’t allowed to show a family in swimsuits (which if you really think about it, swimsuits are like quick-drying underwear) because young audiences don’t need to see “half-naked” people on ads? Hanes, Jockee, Fruit of the Loom and any other underwear manufacturer will have to find new strategies for promoting their “intimate apparel.” What if you couldn’t find out about Wendy’s dollar menu because companies aren’t allowed to promote anything that doesn’t follow the food pyramid? Admittedly, this is a bit of a stretch, but the point is that censorship has its limits.

We wouldn’t be America without freedom of speech (though I suppose we wouldn’t be America without people wanting to regulate and challenge our freedoms either). Television broadcasters don’t put up programs that people don’t want to watch; they put up programs that people do. And while I don’t think children should be exposed to vulgar languages and images on television or anywhere else, I believe it’s up to parents to regulate what their children watch.

Congratulations, Celebrex, you have created the worst television commercial ever. More discussion after the break.

So you’ve probably heard that Celebrex almost got pulled from the market because it was causing heart problems. Their response: Hey, any of these drugs can kill you - including ours.

They have created an ad that is so confusing and so difficult to look at that it is worthless in terms of marketing, in terms of advertising, in terms of PR. I have never seen an ad this bad, and it runs for an eternity.

If you have something nice to say about this ad, please comment. Perhaps I’m missing something (it is the end of the day after all). Unless I hear differently, this is officially the worst television commercial ever.

As if we aren’t teased enough, Apple is poking fun at our industry.

Ok, it’s funny.

For all of the talk about new media like iTunes and YouTube taking us away from the television, it seems that Nielsen has found the exact opposite: Time spent watching television is on the rise. According to this article on AdvertisingAge.com, TV viewing is up 3 minutes a day to an average of 8 hours 14 minutes per household. Add to that, teens averages are also on the rise so it’s not just us old folks watching more TV. So if YouTube is on the rise and iTunes is selling more movies and videos than ever and TV viewing is on the rise, where is the extra time coming from? How has television done it?

I’m guessing that the majority of the world does not sit on their sofa, surfing the ‘Net using a wireless laptop like I do. So, here are 3 things that networks have done to secure their place in our living rooms.

(more…)

If you hadn’t heard of a video news release (VNR) before 2004, you certainly heard about it then. The government issued some VNRs that were aired by the networks without revealing the source of the report. It became a big deal then, and the FCC is making VNRs fight for their lives again. Yesterday, I read that the FCC has announced that it is going to fine 42 stations for not disclosing that news reports came from VNRs. It seems that the FCC regulates all video that is paid placement – it should; those are called ads even if they are in a news show. If the video is distributed freely (as most VNRs are), the FCC mandates attribution if the content is political or controversial. One could make an argument that that includes 99% of all VNRs. Hence, the FCC has all but killed the VNR.

PRSA issued a press release a few months ago telling us their stance on VNRs and their regulation. Makes sense to me, but clearly not to the FCC.
(more…)

I’m wondering how people get their stuff into Advertising Age (I guess I could find out at their site… nah). Anyway, today I read a viewpoint column by Scott Johnson titled ”Electronic Media: Altering Our Intelligence”. In it he actually states “The media-induced diminution of human intelligence is very real. The good news for those of us in the advertising industry is that, slowly, an entirely new form of intelligence is being born to replace it.”

Let me get this right: We humans are getting more stupid and more intelligent at the same time? Neat trick! Let’s see, I can use the “I’m getting more stupid” part to keep me out of decisions I don’t want to make. Then I can use the “I’m gaining an entirely new form of intelligence” part to win arguments with my co-workers. This is fantastic! If only I even remotely agreed with his premise.

I don’t. In fact, I think it’s a silly and embarassing article to come from someone in our industry.

MediaWeek has a new article outlining research from Mediamark Research Inc. According to the research

• 11.2 percent of adults report having a DVR up from 8.6 in the Fall
• DVR households are 23% less likely to be heavy TV viewers
• DVR households are 43% more likely to be heavy readers of magazines
• DVR households are 40% more likely to be heavy readers of newspapers
• DVR households are 81% more likely to be heavy Internet users
• DVR households more upscale than the entire adult population

Communicators take note! To me this looks like the profile of a social media user. They might be fast forwarding through commercials, but they are paying attention to media relations initiatives and social media. Advertising is not dead, it’s just shifting its focus. TV is still a major player in an advertising mix, but will it always be that way? No. The DVR is giving us television when we want it – just like YouTube and iTunes and Google Video. This study does not imply that DVR users are less plugged in, it tells me that they are even more aware of products and services than are their commercial-watching counterparts. We need to recognize that the DVR gives us more opportunities to reach our audiences, and it forces us to be more creative with our television promotions.

About a month ago I found a video on YouTube that caught my attention. Nobody’s Watching is a pilot from the creators of “Scrubs.” It was pitched to the WB, but was passed over, and before last year, that would have been the end of the story. Someone thought the world should see this pilot, so they posted it on YouTube. I watched it. I laughed. I showed a couple of friends, and I forgot about it. Fast forward to yesterday….

According to AdAge, I’m not the only one that found the video. According to this article (free registration required) about 600,000 have downloaded the show. Turns out that NBC is going to create webisodes of this forgotten pilot.

If you haven’t read the Long Tail by Chris Anderson, you need to go buy it right now. It’s a great book that talks about phenomenon like this. In short, our old models of supply and demand aren’t relevant because in the “old days” the bottleneck was not at the demand, but rather the supply. Given infinite choices, about 98% of products will have some demand. In this case, we have a show that by my estimation is okay (I’ve seen worse pilots on the air). Realistically, it would not make it past the first season. So why is NBC picking it up? 600,000 people is still a good audience, and the cost to put a show on the Internet is much less than bringing it to prime time (remember one of the costs is the opportunity lost by not running a more popular show). But if NBC can get a sponsor or two, this show can be profitable even with its very limited audience. (Snapple has great product placement in this first episode.)

So for marketers, we have far more opportunities than ever in which to promote our products. We are living in an age where the mainstream might be shifting from the big networks to cable networks to the Internet. This show could be a model for the next “hit” television show. Will the next Seinfeld come from the Internet? What’s stopping me from creating a “pilot” and posting it on YouTube to be picked up by a network?