Wednesday, February 21, 2007
An Internet Marketing Lesson From Television's Sweeps Month
I always look for trends that affect business on the Internet in whatever I do. You can learn a lot by connecting seemingly unrelated things to your business. One of those lessons struck me as I've been watching television during what's called “sweeps” month.
As you probably know, television stations set their advertising rates by the ratings they achieve during the months of November, February, and May. As a result, those months are highly competitive, with the networks pulling every trick and stunt they can think of to draw viewers to their shows so they can charge higher advertising rates the next few months.
I've found this past sweeps month and the direction that programming has gone this past season fascinating from the viewpoint of what it suggests about the future of Internet marketing. I saw surprisingly few rating stunts. Instead, I saw networks focusing on a growing trend in programing.
Want proof of the Internet's future as a video provider? Look at the television networks. Is it just me, or is prime-time television moving away from TV series that show a standalone episode every week? More and more, the TV schedule is filled with series in which each episode builds upon the previous one and you have to commit to watching each and every week if you want to understand what's happening.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that the TV networks are moving in this direction right at the time when online video popularity is exploding. People are going online for quick doses of entertainment.
The Internet, with it's ability to offer access to anyone who has a video camera and a little ingenuity, can offer variety and spontaneity beyond anything that TV, with its high production costs can. The Internet can make available entertaining little videos that are short enough to entertain in five minutes, two minutes -- even 20 seconds!
TV can't compete for those who want their entertainment quick and self-contained. The Internet can provide more content with more variety a lot quicker than TV can. So television is moving in a different direction. They are de-emphasizing episodic programs in favor of providing long-running stories that demand commitment of their audiences.
Even shows that formerly were episodic are moving in this direction. Crime dramas that used to solve one or two crimes each week are adopting long-running story arcs that leave key questions unanswered from week to week and force viewers to commit to following the story faithfully from week to week.
But it's all a sign of the way that video is changing the Internet.
I plan to look further at the future of video in Internet marketing over the next couple of weeks. I feel it's crucial to learn more about where it's going and what we need to do to position ourselves at the forward lines of it instead of bringing up the rear.
I encourage you to look at what I feel is the best training series on video marketing currently on the market. I'll warn you. It's not cheap. But it's comprehensive. And it gives the best training both on how surprisingly simple and inexpensive it is to get started in Internet video and ways to make money with Internet video.
It's a great tool to get you going in an area that I'm convinced will have huge profit potential for your business in upcoming months and years. Next Monday I'll tell you why I feel that.
Jeff
I always look for trends that affect business on the Internet in whatever I do. You can learn a lot by connecting seemingly unrelated things to your business. One of those lessons struck me as I've been watching television during what's called “sweeps” month.
As you probably know, television stations set their advertising rates by the ratings they achieve during the months of November, February, and May. As a result, those months are highly competitive, with the networks pulling every trick and stunt they can think of to draw viewers to their shows so they can charge higher advertising rates the next few months.
I've found this past sweeps month and the direction that programming has gone this past season fascinating from the viewpoint of what it suggests about the future of Internet marketing. I saw surprisingly few rating stunts. Instead, I saw networks focusing on a growing trend in programing.
Want proof of the Internet's future as a video provider? Look at the television networks. Is it just me, or is prime-time television moving away from TV series that show a standalone episode every week? More and more, the TV schedule is filled with series in which each episode builds upon the previous one and you have to commit to watching each and every week if you want to understand what's happening.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that the TV networks are moving in this direction right at the time when online video popularity is exploding. People are going online for quick doses of entertainment.
The Internet, with it's ability to offer access to anyone who has a video camera and a little ingenuity, can offer variety and spontaneity beyond anything that TV, with its high production costs can. The Internet can make available entertaining little videos that are short enough to entertain in five minutes, two minutes -- even 20 seconds!
TV can't compete for those who want their entertainment quick and self-contained. The Internet can provide more content with more variety a lot quicker than TV can. So television is moving in a different direction. They are de-emphasizing episodic programs in favor of providing long-running stories that demand commitment of their audiences.
Even shows that formerly were episodic are moving in this direction. Crime dramas that used to solve one or two crimes each week are adopting long-running story arcs that leave key questions unanswered from week to week and force viewers to commit to following the story faithfully from week to week.
But it's all a sign of the way that video is changing the Internet.
I plan to look further at the future of video in Internet marketing over the next couple of weeks. I feel it's crucial to learn more about where it's going and what we need to do to position ourselves at the forward lines of it instead of bringing up the rear.
I encourage you to look at what I feel is the best training series on video marketing currently on the market. I'll warn you. It's not cheap. But it's comprehensive. And it gives the best training both on how surprisingly simple and inexpensive it is to get started in Internet video and ways to make money with Internet video.
It's a great tool to get you going in an area that I'm convinced will have huge profit potential for your business in upcoming months and years. Next Monday I'll tell you why I feel that.
Jeff
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