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.
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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2005 @ 1:37pm

    This is nothing new

    A lot of companies have been doing this for years now - I think they call it product placement.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 6 May 2005 @ 1:47pm

      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.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    studebaker, 7 May 2005 @ 4:13am

    imitates

    life imitates art. this time w/ "The Truman Show"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2005 @ 1:48am

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2005 @ 2:16am

    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).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 8 May 2005 @ 9:41am

      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.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2005 @ 8:19pm

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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