July 20th, 2006 Davis
Historically, I’ve probably been a little too harsh with the networks and the studios. It’s been a tough dilemna because for me because on one hand I love TV more then anyone I know, but on the other hand they’ve been so resistant to change that it’s tough to support them. Just the thought of not having access to pure HDTV digital joy makes me very uncomfortable. Part of why I’ve been so tough with the networks has been because they’ve stifled innovation at every opportunity. Whether it’s been the extra one minute that they’ve added to the programming or the countless “TiVo proof” ads that I still seem to avoid, they’ve been pretty desperate in their attempts to continue to force consumers to watch TV according to their rules. While I understand that advertising is necessary to support the programming that I enjoy, I also think that there are times that the studios go way too far in trying to force ads on consumers.
Such is the case with NBC’s latest promotion on their summer hit Treasure Hunters. After watching a few of the shows, I can tell you that it’s very entertaining, but as a PVR viewer, I get the sense that they could care less if they had my business. In an attempt to combat time shifting by consumers, NBC has initated a promotion where they allow viewers to answer trivia questions via their cell phones or the web, but only if they happen to be watching live. The idea behind the promotion is to give consumers an added incentive to tune in live, instead of time shifting (and ad skipping) their program.
While I fully support NBC’s efforts to try and evolve their antiquated advertising business model, I can’t help but wonder if they’ve crossed the line between bad marketing and illegal behavior with this promotion. It’s not the $10,000 giveaway or the voting that I object to, but if you do happen to participate in their live contest using your cell phone, they charge you a .99 cent fee for voting. Now technically, there is a way you can vote through NBC’s website, but most of their promotion focuses on the text messaging. In looking at the program, I have to imagine that they are actually turning a profit on the participation of viewers. Last year, Fox’s American Idol was able to draw an amazing 41 million text messages for their favorite idol. Considering that Fox wasn’t even giving anything away, I think it’s a fair assumption that NBC is getting more then 10,000 text messages on their Treasure Hunters promotion.
If consumers have a less then 1 in 10,000 shot of winning and they are paying .99 cents per vote, I have to question whether this is a “giveaway” as much as it is a new revenue opportunity for NBC. While I like the idea of letting cell phone users pay for my programming, if they receive anywhere near the response that Fox has received, then NBC has essentially figured out a way to print money. Even with half the response to American Idol, NBC would still pick up $20 million dollars for their $10,000 “prize.”
I can respect NBC wanting to help pay for the show, but the whole scheme sounds like gambling to me. While they do provide a “free” way to enter their contest, the truth of the matter is that if they are taking in more then $10,000 per show, then something seems very unethical about this particular promotion, especially considering that advertisers are paying them more to convince these consumers to tune in live. Now I’m sure that they’ve had their attorneys look it over and technically this might not be a lottery, but if you actually calculate the odds, I have a funny feeling that this is much worse. In the end I’m going to choose to defer to my Father’s advice when it comes to the lottery, the best way to win is to never play.
Update - Katie Fehenbacher with Gigaom discusses how companies are already building business models around this very issue and includes some mind blowing statistics on how much consumers are really paying to text message their favorite shows. The Wall Street Journal also weighed in on this issue in this morning’s press.
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