TVloop Blog

There’s a great post today over at NewTeeVee about whether the Web hurts guilty pleasure TV shows because a significant number of viewers watch the show online rather than during its normal broadcast time slot.  That of course impacts Neilsen ratings which in turn impacts advertising rates which impacts advertising revenue and so on and so on.  The net result could be what we’re currently seeing with Lipstick Jungle.  NBC can’t seem to make up it’s mind about whether it’s going to axe the series mid-season or let the original 13 episodes run as planned while fans of the show are up in arms about its fate.  Now the show’s creators are saying that because of the number of streams online that the show is much more popular than originally thought.  The same can be said for Gossip Girl as CW has repeatedly tried to get a clear picture on exactly how many viewers it has for the show. From a TVLoop perspective, it’s one of our most popular applications with over 360,000 users of the application and over half a million quizzes taken to date.  TVLoop users just can’t seem to get enough of Blair, Serena, Nate and Chuck no matter how annoying and absurd the plotlines become.  Who wears red pants? No, I’m not a fan. But I digress.

If the question is whether networks should allow their viewers to stream these shows online, the answer should be a resounding YES.  In fact, it amazes me that the question could even be asked at all given the strides online video has made over the last couple of years especially as it relates to professional content from the major networks.  Today’s consumer wants to be in control of their television-viewing experience and the networks can either embrace them or combat them, but either way it’s going to happen in some form or fashion.  The smart thing to do is to continue working through the various models to give consumers what they want in a way that also provides a beneficial business outcome to the networks.  Online video does not have to mean lower revenue.  In fact, the opportunity available to networks with regards to online viewers is limitless if only they would look beyond the pre-roll and post-roll.  For instance, at TVLoop, we currently have full-length episodes of shows from ABC and Hulu (FOX, NBC, and FX).  At the same time, we have 16 million engaged TV fans that come to our social networking applications to interact with other fans around their favorite shows, answer trivia questions, play games, etc.  To really drive online revenue, the networks need to be more proactive about diversifying their advertising opportunities by working with partners such as TVLoop on integrated campaigns that span across video and the sites that are hosting them.

For instance, imagine watching a full episode of Grey’s Anatomy on TVLoop that contains an ad for the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.  Not only would you be viewing a complete skin/takeover of the TVLoop page, when you’re finished watching the episode you would be greeted with an interstitial touting the movie and inviting you to watch the trailer.  And while answering Grey’s trivia questions (our most popular feature), five questions in you’re presented with a bonus question sponsored by Quantum of Solace and accompanied by some exclusive behind the scenes footage.  All said and done, you would be exposed to the Quantum of Solace brand message no less than 5-8 times during your 60 minute visit to the applicaiton.  That makes a lot more sense than seeing one lousy pre-roll that keeps you from getting to the content you’re really trying to watch.  A combined campaign not only increases frequency, but it has the potential to drive serious engagement with the brand message.  Hopefully the networks will come around and view online video as another component to online campaigns rather than the only component.

I just posted a similar post over at the FanSection blog, but I wanted to take a minute to give some kudos to TVLoop as well.  AppData, the new Facebook application tracking site launched by Justin Smith who runs product here at Watercooler, shows that Watercooler/TVLoop applications are ranked #4 in the video category at 1.6 million monthly active users (MAUs).  Watercooler is ranked #12 among all Facebook application developers with 5.6 million total MAUs.

I attended the NewTeeVee Live conference yesterday and my favorite panel by far was Bridging the Gap between TV and the Web moderated by NewTeeVee writer Chris Albrecht.  I won’t rehash the lively discussion as you can read about that here.  Instead, as the title of this post suggests, I want to focus on the television buzzword of the day - transmedia.  The term came up several times while Heroes Writer and Producer, Jesse Alexander was speaking on the panel about how Heroes, as well as other properties like Star Wars, have extended the reach of their content beyond the television to the Web, print, mobile, etc.  It’s a fascinating story of how the producers of Heroes have rallied the audience around the show on every night of the week rather than just on Mondays.  The result is a huge following of ultra-passionate fans that can’t seem to get enough of the show and its multitude of characters. For those of you that are also new to the term, transmedia is defined by Wikipedia asfollows:

Transmedia storytelling, also called multiplatform, crossmedia or enhanced storytelling, is storytelling across multiple forms of media. By using different media, it attempts to create “entrypoints” through which consumers can become immersed in a story franchise’s world. The aim of this immersion is decentralized authorship, or transmedial play.^[1]

So how does that apply to TVLoop?  Well the short answer is that it really doesn’t…yet.  But it can and I believe it will in fairly short order.  For instance, our Addicted to Heroes application currently has ~500,000 users across the top five social networks, 67,000 daily active users on Facebook alone.  Those 67,000 users come to the Facebook application to watch full episodes, play trivia games, take quizzes, and more importantly, to discuss Heroes episodes and plot lines.  The last part is where transmedia kicks in.  Here’s just a snippet of the conversation occuring around the last episode:

These are passionate users basically discussing the future of the show.  Are the powers that be at NBC listenting to these users and adapting the show accordingly?  Probably not, but they could be.  Transmedia should strive to be more than just distribution.  It should include user conversation and the story should progress accordingly.  This isn’t a new idea as several original Web series have tried to incorporate user feedback without much success.  But this would be something new for broadcast television, and for the passion shows like Heroes and Lost, it could be interesting.  Fans certainly couldn’t come up with anything more absurd than polar bears on a tropical island.

Much has been made about the forecast of doom and gloom for the online advertising world in 2009.  Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Ventures recently wrote a nice post about what kind of media companies would survive an online ad recession.  I’m not sure we’re supposed to be saying the “r” word but let’s go with it and see where it takes us.  One of Jeremy’ key points is that brands want to purchase standard IAB advertising, and as the economy slows down, the first thing to go are budgets for experimental advertising solutions. From the Lightspeed blog:

2. Experimental budgets are the first to get cut.

In an ad recession, advertisers appetite for experimentation is low. They like to stick to the established ad standards. New forms of advertising are hard. Startups whose sales processes feel more like business development than selling off of a rate card may have a tougher time.

Companies selling standard ad units will weather the recession better than those that have unique ad units.

While I don’t necessarily disagree with the general sentiment for portals and content sites, I think social media publishers have to question whether serving nothing but 300×250 medrecs is really in the best interest of our advertisers.   IAB units absolutely have a role in what we do, because reach and frequency will always have a place in advertising. But for social media advertising to be successful, brands have to become part of the user conversation in a meaningful and engaging way, and that’s where we’re really focusing our efforts here at Watercooler.  Besides, who wants to see your favorite social media sites get completely cluttered with IAB advertising?

To meet the needs of our advertisers, we’re always looking for ways to inject their brands into the user experience.  More importantly, the more that we can associate brands with positive features and functionality throughout our social networking applications, the more successful those campaigns tend to be.  For instance, we’re currently running a campaign for the Scrubs Season 7 DVD throughout the TVLoop fan communities.  Standard IAB units are playing a big role, but the rubber really meets the road in the Addicted to Scrubs application. where sponsored trivia is able to get a highly relevant audience (die-hard Scrubs fans) to specifically interact with the brand and product.   What’s the solution?  We developed customized trivia questions related to the Season 7 DVD and and put them right in the middle of the user experience.  Trivia is the most popular feature for Watercooler applications, and sponsors have the unique opportunity of having users specifically interact with their brands as part of the normal user experience.  While I don’t have results for the Scrubs campaign just yet, past sponsored trivia campaigns have shown the ability to improve message comprehension and retention, and that’s what social media advertising is all about.  Stay tuned for a future post on a detailed case study for sponsored trivia campaigns.

As I was checking in with the growth of TVLoop applications this week, I noticed a new show at the top of the weekly leaderboard.  The L Word, the popular Showtime series about a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women in Los Angeles, isn’t set to open Season 6 until February 2009, but membership numbers for the TVLoop application are going through the roof.  User numbers have increaseed by almost 13K (or 12%) in the last week.  Total membership now stands at approximately 136K which is up almost 30% since the end of September.

So why the sudden increase in traffic.  After some careful digging, I think we can pin it on a couple of possibilities.  First, the Season 5 DVD was just released at the end of October, likely resulting in some renewed interest since the season ended in March.  Additionally, the band Uh Huh Her, led by one of the lead actresses in the series, Leisha Hailey, has been getting lots of positive pub.  Leisha plays character Alice Pieszecki, and is rumored to be getting the lead in a spin-off after the Season 6 finale.  Both events are likely increasing interest in The L Word as we wait for the next season to begin.

Whatever the primary cause in the jump in traffic to Addicted to The L Word, we’re happy to see it become one of the most popular TVLoop applications.  If it’s popularity on Facebook, MySpace, and other social networks is any indication, Season 6 should be a resounding success for our friends at Showtime.  Just another example of how networks and brands can use social media to build awareness and interest in a produt well before the actual release date.  Gone are the days when consumers wait to hear from you on your terms.  Now they determine when and how they interact with your product whether it be shoes, DVDs, or a hit TV show.