The success of Gossip Girl’s “OMFG” campaign and other buzz-making efforts have proven too successful, driving so much traffic to The CW’s website that hundreds of thousands have been watching the show there.
Which was pretty much the whole point, right?
Of course, now the network is shutting down the web streams over fears of this eating away at Gossip Girl’s TV audience.
Since the target demographic of young people are so Internet savvy, The CW thinks they’re becoming too lazy to bother catching the show on Monday at 8 p.m., where advertising revenues are much greater.
Instead, younger Gossip Girl fans are growing accustomed to catching full episodes of the show online, and that - in an industry-wide trend - has proved much more difficult for advertisers to monetize.
So it goes for a hit / non-hit show that’s had a big time impact on pop culture, yet remains a ratings disappointment. Will that change this spring? You can do your part by tuning in to The CW tonight at 8!
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
What the CW is missing out on is a GOLDEN opportunity to break the old mold of how to monetize advertising in the web era. Since it’s OBVIOUS that GG is the most downloaded show around, use that as a marketing tool to advertisers (especially since it’s that coveted demographic that the show is aimed at) and sell them peripheral time using a multi-pronged approach to advertising tie-ins. Cross-platform and compartmentalize the advertising to get paid AND help the sponsors get the visibility they so much desire. It’s a new day people, wake up to the possibilities.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
eric is the gay one. Dan sees asher cheating on jenny with eric!