NEW: CBS Digital Chief: Networks Must Embrace 'User Editors'

CBS Digital Chief: Networks Must Embrace 'User Editors'

Ad Age: May 7, 2008 Hoag Levins 

CBS Interactive president, Quincy Smith, says media companies must embrace user editors.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The traditional television business has no choice but to ultimately find ways to embrace online fans who copy, re-edit and upload networks' copyrighted content, CBS digital chief Quincy Smith told the IAB Leadership Forum his week. President of CBS Interactive who oversees all the company's digital efforts, Mr. Smith said the "users have seen what they can do with" video and its "ridiculous" to think anything will stop them. "Media needs to be more comfortable with users as editors," he said. He also slammed the wireless industry for making the U.S. like a "sixth-world nation" with consumer-unfriendly mobile phone systems. 

MTV Plans to Increase Its Blending of Ads and Shows

By BILL CARTER

Published: May 8, 2008

Every year at this time, networks pitch advertisers on their programs for the coming year in previews called the upfronts. On Thursday,MTV Networks will sell not only the appeal of its programs but of its commercials as well.

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Spike TV

A scene from a series of spots called “Men of Action” for Spike TV, which ties in products from Kay Jewelers and KFC.

In the past year MTV Networks, which is owned by Viacom, has produced a series of commercials for its advertisers that look like regular content on its roster of channels, including MTV, CMT and Spike.

For example, a short chase movie called “Get Moe,” intended to look like an ersatz “Bourne Ultimatum,” is actually a series of 60-second commercials for Mountain Dew. A series of shorts called “Men of Action” thrusts the heroes into violent confrontations that somehow promote the virtues of KFC and Kay Jewelers.

The stars of the CMT network’s top series “Trick My Truck” appear in a series of spots featuring tips on how to maintain your tricked-out truck, including the timely use of oil from Exxon.

At its upfront, MTV will be telling advertisers that these techniques — which are called “podbusting” because they break up commercial pods with content that is almost indistinguishable from the entertainment programming — have greatly enhanced viewer engagement with the commercials and their retention of the ads’ messages.

“The results are amazing,” Hank Close, the president for sales at MTV Networks, said in a telephone interview that previewed his sales pitch to the advertisers. “In many of these messages we’re seeing 100 percent retention.” MTV Networks wants to attract more advertisers based on the success of these experiments.

“We are increasingly being asked by advertisers to create messages for audiences in our own voice,” Mr. Close said...

MTV Networks Upfront Presentation: 'The Ultimate ROI: Return on Innovation'

MTVN's Presentation Showcases Innovation Across Partnerships, Programming                                and Platforms   Special Appearances by Justin Timberlake, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock,  Ashanti, Taylor Swift, Lauren Conrad, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, George  Foreman, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Exclusive Performances by John Legend, Sarah  Silverman, JabbaWockeeZ from MTV's "Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best   Dance Crew" and the Cast of Hit Broadway Musical Legally Blonde Light Up                        the Nokia Theater Times Square Presentation Also Unveils Landmark "Multi-Screen Engagement Case Study" and   Partnership with Marketing Evolution to Deploy "Effectiveness Targeting"      NEW YORK, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- At its 2008 upfront presentation, MTV Networks (MTVN), a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), united its leadership, talent and marketing partners to showcase innovative partnerships, programming and platforms across its brands, which include MTV, VH1, COMEDY CENTRAL, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, CMT, Logo, Nick at Nite, The N and TV Land. The presentation, led off by MTVN Chairman and CEO Judy McGrath, highlighted "return on innovation" -- the value for marketers in MTVN's reinvention of how audiences experience content and advertising on every screen.      Held this afternoon at Nokia Theater Times Square in New York City, the event was highlighted by special guest appearances by some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Justin Timberlake, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Ashanti, Taylor Swift, Lauren Conrad, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, George Foreman, Dr. Drew Pinsky, as well as exclusive musical performances by John Legend, Sarah Silverman, JabbaWockeeZ from MTV's "Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew" and the cast of hit Broadway musical Legally Blonde...