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Watch Out: TV Is Tinkering With Its Business Model
from the look-who's-adapting dept
Like the recording industry, the people over in TV land have been in deep denial about the future of their business. Mostly they've been whining about all the money they've been "losing" to ad skipping, which they've actually tried to make illegal. But some Hollywood types might be wising up. A startup called Delivery Agent is working with networks and studios to sell products seen in TV shows, both as a consignment agent (fancy purses used on Will & Grace) and e-commerce vendor (Crest white strips promoted on Queer Eye). Digital Agent recently nabbed $5 million in funding to sign up more shows, which pay the company to establish websites and other methods for hawking their merchandise. There are some questions about the Digital Agent approach, namely that its services seem to overlap with those that networks can (and sometimes already) do themselves. But it is encouraging to see them at least experimenting with a new business model that doesn't solely rely on commercials -- or forcing people to watch them.
Reader Comments
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This is nothing new
A lot of companies have been doing this for years now - I think they call it product placement.
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Re: This is nothing new
This is a bit more than product placement (though, yes, it's been going on for a while). This is actually tying the sales of items in a show to the show, giving the show some cut. That's different than product placement.
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imitates
life imitates art. this time w/ "The Truman Show"
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In a few years will television be nothing but info
It's one thing to have passive product placements within a show, it's another thing to have the show SELL the goods on the show. It's getting to the point where there isn't even the illusion of art anymore. Just out and out crass marketing of products to folks who lack critical thinking skills. I like the idea of television advancing their business models, but I worry that the quality of shows will further drop except in a few "West Wing" cases.
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No Subject Given
Nothing new here. This is how TV started. Shows were originally wholly sponsored by a product or company (just like it was on radio).
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Re: No Subject Given
Again, this is different than sponsorship or product placement, but blending *commerce* with the entertainment. There's a difference: this isn't blending advertising with entertainment, but actual shopping.
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Soaps
I've seen some soaps do this already. At the end of the show they'll have a quick commercial explaining how you can buy a characters jewlry, for example.
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