from mediaweek
Sprint, CW Mobilize Supergirl for Mobisodes
T.L. Stanley
She fights with the Justice League, made a splash in Smallville and
now, in an effort to reward that show’s fans, will star in her own
series of animated mobisodes on Sprint. That Supergirl sure gets
around.
The effort is the second round of mobile shorts from Sprint, the CW
network and its sibling Warner Bros. TV Group. The first, based on
another Smallville character, Green Arrow, got the highest tune-in of
all Sprint’s entertainment offerings in winter 2007, the marketer
said.
The CW, like many broadcasters, is pu****ng content onto various
platforms to promote its primetime lineup and is finding mobile an
increasingly attractive tactic to reach young adults. Going an extra
step—creating original stories that parallel Smallville’s action—could
draw new as well as loyal viewers to the TV show.
“There are passionate fans who respond to content created just for
them," said Alison Tarrant, the CW’s svp-integrated sales and
marketing. “And they respond to the ad partner who sponsors it.”
Sprint is this sponsor in this case. The company underwrites the
mobisodes as part of an overall deal with the network and advertises
during Smallville, which kicks off the second half of its seventh
season next week. Sprint also has brand integration that shows off the
features and gadgetry of its cell phones, taking it beyond a
traditional product placement.
For its entertainment ties, the marketer looks for shows with “a
unique group of very highly engaged fans,” said Alisa Smith, marketing
manager at Sprint, Overland Park, Kansas. “Then we get ingrained with
them over time.”
Sprint wouldn’t release specific figures on how many people watched
last season’s Smallville Legends shorts or subscribe to entertainment
content, which ranges from NFL and Nascar highlights to interviews
from Oprah’s Big Give and episodes of Hannah Montana.
But they, and their competitors, clearly believe it is the future.
Recent estimates are that as many as 10% of cell phone users are
watching video. That translates to about 35 million people in the U.S.
Of the few million consumers who now carry iPhones, a dispro****tionate
number, 30.9%, are watching mobile TV or video, per M:Metrics,
Seattle.
Networks are responding. Some release entire episodes, including
behind-the-scenes segments, interviews and making-of specials, while
others create fresh content. Fox, an early adopter, has developed
original mobisodes around its successful 24, Prison Break and The
Simple Life, while ABC has done so with, Lost.
Mobile carriers offer TV-related fare, news, s****ts, celebrity gossip
and the like to their customers as extras, sometimes as an
all-you-can-eat subscription, akin to cable TV. Unlimited voice, data
and multimedia services cost $99 a month on Sprint, for instance.
Such fees could be a stumbling block, said Peter Kim, a senior analyst
at Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass. Kim thinks there’s a
disconnect between the premium subscriber and the young adult fan of
mobile entertainment. “People using the data functions of their cell
phones are older professionals,” Kim said, referring to cor****ate
BlackBerry users. “That could be too pricey for a teen demo.” MyWaves,
which licenses content and distributes it free on mobile phones, aims
at the 18-34 year-old largely male demo with clips from MTV, Comedy
Central and other networks. CEO Rajeev Raman said subscription fees
above $5 or $10 a month deter young adults. “It’s tough to get the
MySpace crowd,” Raman said. “It’s a high bar.”
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