In a groundbreaking promotional initiative, AOL Television, The WB and Warner Bros. Television, provided a sneak preview of the full premiere episode of The WB’s critically acclaimed new series, JACK & BOBBY, exclusively to AOL for Broadband members for a full week beginning August 31.
Over the span of the week, this historic promotional preview was viewed nearly 700,000 times by AOL for Broadband members.
The initiative from AOL Television, the leading television destination online(1), was designed to drive awareness and sampling of the show before its broadcast premiere, and results show that the preview was successful in meeting that goal. Among the thousands of participants who responded to an online survey about the preview, more than half of the respondents first heard about the show on AOL for Broadband, nearly 90% said that they are very likely to watch future episodes on The WB and more than 85% said they would recommend the show to a friend or family member.
JACK & BOBBY premiered Sunday, September 12 on The WB at 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The drama achieved a new all-time record for a fall premiere on The WB in its time period among women 12-34 (3.3) and women 18-34 (2.6). Additionally, JACK & BOBBY achieved The WB’s best ratings ever for a Sunday fall series debut in any time period among women 12-34 (3.3), women 18-34 (2.6) and women 18-49 (2.5) and the second highest ever in female teens (5.2).
“The magnitude of the success of this on-line promotion with AOL for JACK & BOBBY, in terms of both the overwhelming numbers of video streams and the outstanding qualitative research, multiplied by the enormous overall promotional weight the show received throughout the AOL service, will no doubt deliver to us and our affiliates a much larger core fan base for this outstanding series, not just for week one, but in subsequent weeks as well,” said Garth Ancier, Chairman of The WB. “JACK & BOBBY is so special and so good that we felt the best way to get people excited about it was to let them watch it so that they could become advocates for the series. The results of this promotion to AOL for Broadband members appear to have accomplished that goal beyond our wildest expectations.”
“The response to this exclusive preview has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re thrilled that we could help create an experience that both helped drive pre-premiere awareness for the show, as well as provide AOL for Broadband members a special advance look,” said Patricia Karpas, Vice President and General Manager, AOL Television. “Teaming this terrific show with the capabilities of AOL for Broadband proved to be a winning promotional formula.”
Other highlights of the survey results include:
— More than 95% said they watched the entire episode
— More than 90% rated the episode as “excellent” or “very good,” and the episode also received high marks in the categories of storyline, characters and relationships
— Nearly 95% said they were satisfied with their viewing experience on AOL for Broadband
— Nearly 90% said that this type of programming adds to their satisfaction with AOL for Broadband overall
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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