Promo - December 2008 - (Page 8)

10 Legal 14 retail 17 EXPERIENTIAL 18 interactive THE PLAYERS Alternative Viewing TV on demand/Richard Tedesco As their audience shares continue to slide, the major broadcast networks are becoming increasingly creative in trying to drive viewers to TV screens by streaming shows on PC screens. The Web is clearly an alternate destination for those everelusive younger, affluent viewers who prefer watching video streams online to the traditional practice of setting their personal schedules for appointment viewing of their favorite TV series. CBS, picking up where it left off last season as the current ratings front-runner, also has an edge on its network competitors as the leading innovator online. It launched social viewing rooms on CBS.com for 11 of its series in October, including mainstays “CSI” and the current “Survivor” reality incarnation, and a CBS’s social viewing rooms are gaining mix of new primetime momentum as alternate video venues for younger videophiles who enjoy the shows, daytime stanopportunity to interact. dards and classics. The concept was intended to create a communal ambiance, enabling viewers to assume online identities as they chatted with each other about what they were watching and registered critical reactions by tossing virtual tomatoes at characters they didn’t like. “Our thought is that the Web is a completely new medium and our aim is not to simply rebroadcast what we put on air,” says Anthony Soohoo, senior vice president and general manager of social entertainment at CBS Interactive. “What we find is when people are online they want to engage in a different way. They like to share the experience. They like to have conversations about it.” While CBS had no quantitative viewing numbers to share from its social viewing rooms, Soohoo reports that the online socializing has sparked friendships and a few W For more articles on promotions, go to www.promomagazine.com Newsletter Web RSS Webinar Blog Podcast 8 December 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.CBS.com http://www.promomagazine.com http://WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - December 2008

Promo - December 2008 Contents Editor's Note Alternative Viewing UGC Refresher Course KFC Takes Wing Title Sharing the Holidays That Holiday Glow Wish List Commentary Ready to Eat Recession Busters Q&A: A Higher Mark Resource Center The Agency Center Gift Giving Index of Advertisers

Promo - December 2008

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