Microsoft Corp. is facing increasing competition in the online video arena. For starters, MSN video is currently the sixth-ranked video destination in the United States, and that spot trails far behind Google’s YouTube, AOL’s Time Warner, and News Corp’s MySpace. software is expanding its affiliations to cover winemaker Chivas Brothers Ltd. and Swedish automaker Volvo Cars.
Microsoft has signed deals with Chivas and Volvo to support two new web series from Reveille, the company behind “The Office” and “Ugly Betty” TV shows. The two new shows include “Driving School,” which will be presented as a comedy about a driving instructor who shares life lessons with his students. The show will be hosted by actor Craig Robinson, who plays Darryl on NBC’s The Office.
The other program, titled “That’s Life,” is about travel and adventure linked to an advertising campaign for Chivas Regal. The programs will arrive on the MSN website in the next six months, Microsoft announced Tuesday at an advertising industry conference. Microsoft did not disclose the financial or product placement arrangements of the deals.
Last month, 11.5 million people visited MSN Video and spent an average of 5.5 minutes on the site, compared to 45 million people who spent about 41 minutes each on YouTube, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
It should be remembered that after the acquisition of YouTube, an online video website, by Google Inc., it has become a hot topic. Advertisers and ad brokers were quick to convert the web-equivalent TV ad trend into dollars. Since then, short ads before or after a video clip online have become an instant hit.
According to Gayle Troberman, general manager of branded entertainment at Microsoft, they will continue to be a staple of Microsoft’s video advertising inventory. But advertisers are also experimenting with original series and user-generated videos as they venture to capture even deeper connections with online shoppers.
In 2006, Microsoft and Reveille produced a handful of MSN programs that fall somewhere between advertising and programming. Troberman touted “Chef to the Rescue,” sponsored by Kraft Foods Inc., as a notable Reveille partnership success story. The software giant said that after the cooking show launched in December, more than 250,000 viewers printed recipes related to Kraft products.
While it’s tempting to label the shows advertorials and leave it at that, Ben Silverman, CEO of Reveille, said he has tried to find fancier ways to incorporate product and entertainment. “I don’t want to be in something where you’re screwing up that content by stupid, clumsy decisions,” Silverman said.
Microsoft said it planned to expand its commitment to developing original content based on branded entertainment opportunities, announcing during an afternoon session at the company’s Strategic Accounts Summit (SAS) in Seattle, Washington that it will extend its current relationship with the producer Reveille. while also launching several other new web content projects.
“We are the leader in creating original content online,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer for MSN, citing the more than 20 web series the portal launched last year. Among those original series is Chef to the Rescue, the result of a partnership between her and Reveille announced at the summit last year.
While others have speculated that MSN’s partnership with Reveille has been slow to produce success, Bradford said the two companies have agreed to extend their relationship, though he forgot to say how long. During Tuesday’s presentation, Bradford passionately greeted Reveille CEO Ben Silverman, the mastermind behind TV hits The Office and The Biggest Losers, with a couple of kisses before passing him the stage.
Volvo has signed on as a charter sponsor of that program. Through the shows, the Swedish automaker could show off Volvo’s master cylinder, safety features and other historic innovations. As such, this trend is expected to affect the entire Web. Silverman said that while he still believed television was a great brand builder, his company’s web creations offer advertisers much deeper access than is known in the television business. “It always bothers me so much that they keep me out of those conversations [with TV advertisers]”he said.”[The networks] I don’t get it yet.”
Silverman wasn’t the only partner who shared the moment at SAS. Allen Shapiro, CEO of Dick Clark Productions and president of Mosaic Media Group, spoke about the success of a Golden Globes content show launched earlier this year with MSN, one that television partner NBC was wary of. This year his company, which owns the rights to many early TV performances by music stars like Prince and Madonna, is exploring launching a classic rock channel with MSN, along with a possible comedy network. “Now we are determined to step this up,” Shapiro said.