Networks Turn To Viral Marketing & Internet TV for Fall Premieres

MediaPost reports ABC will roll out the second season of reality TV hit "The Biggest Looser" by hosting 1,000 house parties to screen the premiere and generate buzz for the new season. Much like Howard Dean's "House Calls" last election cycle, ABC's viral marketing push empowers fans to create their own marketing messages and contribute content to sites devoted to the show. According to marketing consultant Parker Reilly, "We find the biggest fans and get them to work for the brands that they love... All the videos and pictures and blogs comments they create are there for NBC to use and show as evidence of how much people love the show."

In a similar buzz-building move, the WB Network will premiere the entire first episode of the new series "Supernatural" on Yahoo! TV.  According to WB chair Garth Ancier, “We are in a TV landscape where 150 shows will premier in the next couple of weeks... There’s no question that with the average person getting [over a hundred] channels in their house, with this many choices you need something to break away from the clutter" (via AdAge). Using Yahoo! TV as the video distribution platform, WB hopes to leverage Yahoo!'s younger, tech-savvy demographic to garner a larger share of viewers for its fall line-up.

In both cases, established networks are turning to Web-based promotions and consumer generated media as a way to harness the power of influentials within targeted demographics. Internet TV facilitates viral marketing by providing these influentials with privy access to broadcast content, which in turn creates an incentive to spread the word. Howard Dean's campaign used a similar tactic in mobilizing activists by providing a special call-in number to hear the doctor speak in a real-time conference call for the house parties. It's undeniable that in today's media environment, one of the best way to cut through the noise, whether it's the fall line-up of television premieres or a barrage of political ads, is to empower activist communities to do the marketing for you.

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