TV Commercials Move Beyond the Box

Often, youthful viewers scorn television and other traditional advertising. Also, they are of a highly mobile, multitasking generation: How do you reach them with a television ad when they're not sitting at home watching TV? And, when they are, they may be fast-forwarding past the commercials with their TiVos.

But the 18- to 34-year-olds do have a high affinity for the Internet and mobile media devices such as iPods and cellphones, where traditional television advertisers are now looking.

"I think clients do want to experiment, and it makes sense to experiment in these new arenas," said Shari Ann Brill, vice president and director of programming for media-buying firm Carat USA.

Rupert Murdoch's Fox television network is launching a venture this fall called My Network. The shows -- such as English-language versions of telenovelas , the staple of Spanish-language programming -- will be aimed at younger viewers.

Once the network begins broadcasting, fans will be able to go to an ad-supported Web site and listen to actors from the shows talk about their characters as though they are real. Networks will also have their characters write blogs, creating another opportunity for advertisers. Fans will be able to build their own social networking groups around their favorite shows, where they can gather and hash over the episodes. Which means advertisers will know exactly where to look to hit their target consumers. In a way, the online components of television shows work like bait.

Fox surged onto the Internet last year, when Murdoch bought the popular social networking Web site MySpace.com, gaining access to its 70 million users. Fox is now filling the site with its television content, such as episodes of the Fox drama "24," available for $1.99 downloads.

NBC's big announcement during the upfronts heralded Internet components to some of the network's programming, including a "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" game that will give players an online "briefing" on the clues for the case of that week's episode before it airs. Players will try to crack the case before the on-air detectives do.

"We all know the power of television to connect with viewers and have an impact like no other medium," Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC Universal television group, said at the network's presentation. "Now, we're seeing the power of the Web to capture those viewers, extend the television experience and build communities and a level of engagement like nothing else out there."

CBS waded into the online ad-buy pool with Innertube, a Web site it launched earlier this month. The site includes extra content from CBS shows, such as "Survivor," bracketed by ads. For instance, a preview of the American Country Music Awards show, to be televised next week on CBS, begins and ends with 30-second Ford ads (that cannot be skipped). Such crossover strategy from television to the Web is at the heart of what is being called "extension," CBS's Ross said.

"If you're trying to sell a car, the car appears in a 30-second ad" on television, she explained. "Also, there's product placement in the program. Then, [advertisers] can go to CBS.com and then to Innertube and perhaps somewhere else. It gives advertisers more places to reach that customer," hitting all of the various "Internet iterations," including the Web, downloads, podcasts, mobile episodes and so forth.

As for "engagement," advertisers are starting to fear real repercussions from viewers who use digital video recorders, such as TiVo, to skip commercials, Ross said. So they have created a new way of measuring impact, "engagement," that networks must now worry about in addition to ratings. If networks can increase their reach from television onto the Internet, they hope to engage viewers where they live and work, and keep advertisers from taking their Internet ad dollars elsewhere.

Ad buyer Rash pointed out that the broadcast networks badmouthed cable networks when they launched more than two decades ago, saying they would not attract serious ad dollars. Now, every major network owns cable properties. The networks are not making the same mistake with the Internet and its many iterations.

"The networks have been quicker this time to realize they will eventually capitalize on the new dynamic," Rash said.