BURLINGAME, Calif.--Here's a figure you want to remember: 80 percent retention rate.
Approximately 80 percent of people who watched videos on the Web site of broadcaster ABC (through the company's player) could remember the sponsor/advertiser of the program, said Brad Davis, senior vice president of online media sales and marketing for the Walt Disney Internet Group, during a presentation at the Digital Living Room conference taking place here. The study was commissioned by Walt Disney Internet Group and ABC. (Walt Disney is the parent company of ABC.)
As a result of the recall issue, the cost per impression for online video could begin to surpass the cost per impression for network TV, he said. (Cost per impression, or CPM, is a metric for measuring the cost of ads.) Todd Krieger, senior vice president at Denuo of the Publicis Groupe, concurred, adding that in some instances Internet advertising rates per CPM might already be comparable.
The figures are good news for publishers and Web companies that have had to stand back and watch Google zoom to glory through search ads. Search still accounts for at least half of the advertising spend on the Internet, but clearly there are opportunities for other models.
And for premium content, sponsorship--similar to how General Electric and Chevrolet advertised in the 1950s--seems to be the way to go. Sponsorships are the favored ad vehicles for ABC. Sponsors get three commercials in a one-hour program as well as signage on the interface.
Last year, Hewlett-Packard served as a sponsor in a series of Hannah Montana concerts streamed online. In the HP ads, Montana (the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus--there's a guy you never expected to see again) took a picture of her fans in the front row. Viewers, mostly 7- to 11-year-old girls, could then go to a sponsored site to see pictures from recent concerts or even print pictures with HP's photo service.
A few years ago, Cadillac scored with a sponsorship deal, said Krieger. The car company offered free downloads to people who played Gotham Racing III. The download consisted of three new Cadillacs that could be used in the game.
Roughly 70,000 people downloaded the Cadillacs. "There was a vast increase in test drives," Krieger said.
To: Disney executives
From: Michelle Meyers, an aggravated mom
Re: Your Hannah Montana shenanigans
Cut it out.
Are you intentionally trying to drive us parents crazy with what seems like the latest ploy to squeeze profit out of your youngest and most passionate consumers?
I'm referring to the Hannah Montana 3D concert movie, which you promoted last week as an exclusive seven-day theater release. The film subsequently broke online sales records, sold out in many venues, and sent parents into a frenzy amid concerns they might not get tickets for their excited young tweens. Some had to settle for show times during school hours or well past their kids' bedtimes.
Wallpaper available for download on the Hannah Montana 3D movie site still says the film will be a one-week theater engagement.
(Credit: Disney)Then, with all of the hassles of finding a decent show time fresh in my memory, I learned that you had extended the one-week run indefinitely "due to overwhelming demand," as the movie site reads.
I know I sound like one of those early iPhone customers who got peeved when Apple dropped the price of device. But your latest move is akin to Lucasfilm putting out a new Star Wars movie for what was supposed to be a one-week run only to change its mind after that week. The passion for Hannah Montana among some young girls is on par with that of science fiction enthusiasts for the Star Wars series.
Perhaps some consumers will be happy about the theater extension. But the whole thing leaves me feeling taken for a fool. Under normal circumstances, the savvy--or even cynical--consumer in me would have been skeptical of the one-week run, and maybe even refused to play into the madness it appears your company created just to boost sales. But hey, when it comes to your kids, parents don't always think straight--but of course you know that.
In fact, we have a long tradition of behaving irrationally when it comes to these sort of things, whether it was Cabbage Patch Dolls, Beanie Babies, or some sort of gender-stereotyping Barbie Doll from the 1960s.
When I asked one of your representatives last week why the film was just running in theaters for a week, my gut told me the real answer was to fuel DVD sales. But I listened, and even quoted the woman as she recited the half-hearted party line, that the one-week run is meant to be more like a concert event.
Now, of course, I wonder if she knew all along the theater release would be extended.
Your press release about the extended "engagement" boasts of the "film's record breaking opening weekend performance as the nation's No. 1 film with an astounding three-day tally of $29 million."
Gee, I wonder why it did so well? Could the advertised limited one-week run have something to do with it?
Mark Zoradi, your president of the motion pictures group, went on to say "Audience reaction for the Disney Digital 3-D presentation of Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert has been so overwhelming that we've decided to extend the film's theatrical run. The extra playing time will give more fans a chance to see their favorite performer in an exciting new way that brings the concert experience to life on the big screen. It will also accommodate those fans who want come and enjoy the experience again."
Here I must facetiously thank Zoradi for putting consumers' interests first.
When people ask me about why all the mania over Hannah Montana, I explain that not only is the TV show entertaining and the soundtrack, well, catchy anyway--the craze is palatable to parents because Miley Cyrus (who plays Hannah) is relatively down to earth and together. She's sort of the anti-Britney of pop stars.
Then, however, I'm reminded like I was Wednesday, of the company behind her popularity, behind the Hannah Montana clothing line my daughter's been modeling, and behind the DVD that has taught her all of Hannah's dance moves.
I should know better. And yet I'm still left feeling grossed out...and annoyed.
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