TORONTO – This is not your grandma’s upfront market.
Looking back at the good-ol’-days of the fall season’s upfront market – you know, 2003-’04 or so (when it was still a relatively straightforward thing to sell ad time on linear television based on shows to be launched on TV in September or October) – seems kinda quaint now.
While CTV will take the wrapper off their fall season this afternoon for media buyers and ad agencies and others, the louder buzz will probably come from two entirely different deals, its new mobile news package for Bell Mobility customers (reported here) and a new multi-channel broadband video service which will contain most of the network’s Canadian content.
Calling it "Phase One of the CTV Broadband Network," a free, premium broadband video player, "that harnesses the latest in technology to deliver full length CTV programming in all forms from all genres at broadband speeds and enhanced resolution," says today’s press release, the new service will be ad-supported and feature four different channels.
Some of the shows will be made available on line before they hit the traditional airwaves, said the company.
The CTV Broadband Network is currently integrated into the CTV web site and can be found at www.ctv.ca. Click the branded CTV ‘TV On Demand’ banner to access the broadband player.
The broadband network currently houses these four channels:
* CTV Shows, a broadband channel featuring full length CTV prime time programming
* CTV News and Docs, featuring comprehensive local, national, international and business news, all updated hourly
* etalk on Broadband, devoted exclusively to covering the Canadian and international entertainment industry
* Discovery Channel on CTV, delivering entertaining science, nature and travel programming.
“Canadians are leaders in consuming media and the CTV Broadband Network is part one of CTV’s answer to their appetite to tap programming on emerging platforms and to provide a solution to the advertisers who want to reach them,” said Bell Globemedia president and CEO and CTV CEO Ivan Fecan.
“CTV’s broadband network is a powerful four-channel platform that immediately provides Canadians with the ability to access a roster of some of the top television shows in Canada and the best of news and current affairs,” added CTV vice-president of digital media Kris Faibish. “For CTV, this is an opportunity to deliver award-winning original programming on demand.”
Missing in the release, however, is when or if CTV’s most popular programming – the American programs it airs, such as Desperate Housewives – will be made available on the new broadband network.
Perhaps in Phase 2 of the launch, coming in September, "coincident with the launch of CTV’s Fall 2006 season," says the release.
Here’s a look at what’s available on line from CTV.
Ï CTV Shows will feature a growing vault of full-length/full season programming from CTV’s top-ranked prime-time schedule, and provide a first look at key CTV programs before they make their television premieres. In July, CTV broadband will launch season two of Instant Star, one day ahead of its television premiere and run episodes all summer in a one-day broadband pre-release. Immediately available now are episodes of Corner Gas (season three) Degrassi: The Next Generation (season five) including Degrassi Webisodes, Instant Star (season one), Canadian Idol (season four) and Whistler (season one) launching on June 26th, 2006.
Ï CTV News and Documentaries will be a program rich environment offering local, national and international news and other programming from CTV News. The following is immediately available: CTV National News With Lloyd Robertson (the latest full edition); CTV National News With Sandie Rinaldo; a CTV National News archive; local headlines from CTV local stations across Canada; national and international headlines and top stories, updated hourly; hourly business highlights from the Report on Business; Canada AM select interviews with celebrities and newsmakers; features from CTV Newsnet programs Mike Duffy Live and Question Period; the Best of W-Five; select CTV documentaries.
Ï etalk on Broadband is focused exclusively on the world of celebrity entertainment and an extension of CTV’s celeb news show etalk. "While you may catch one minute of an A-lister on TV, you can catch the whole interview on broadband," says the release. Programming here is focused on delivering entire interviews with key Canadian and international stars. Daily entertainment packages and stories from etalk and E2 can be found here.
Ï Discovery Channel on CTV brings the best of Discovery programming from its flagship program Daily Planet, to the ‘Extremely Wild’ and ‘Ultimate’ series as well as the travel show, Valerie Pringle has Left the Building.
The launch of the CTV Broadband Network is the second wave of CTV’s digital strategy following the launch of MTV Overdrive in March, 2006 (as reported here). MTV Overdrive is a premium broadband service serving up nearly 600 hours of programming on-demand; more full length titles available on demand than any U.S. broadband network site, featuring full-length MTV episodes, exclusive music events, performances and videos, artist interviews, breaking MTV news and more.
So far, channel traffic has grown 20% each month and in just 10 weeks, MTV Overdrive has exceeded two million streams, delivering 391,000 total (monthly) unique visitors who spend more than 22 minutes each per visit on average. Overdrive thrives as an ad-supported channel and to date with more than 13.5 million ad impressions being delivered to date (6.6 million in May alone).
