TORONTO – Astral Media Integrated Solutions, a new division of Astral Television Networks announced today will consolidate and expand the company’s operations in licensing, merchandising, online advertising and promotional sponsorships for its English-language television networks The Movie Network, Viewers Choice and Family Channel.
“Astral Media Integrated Solutions offers clients the opportunity to reach our television networks’ well-established audiences through a combination of on-air, interactive and grassroots promotions,” said Domenic Vivolo, senior vice-president, marketing and sales, in the press release.
“What we can offer partners, sponsors and advertisers is an effective means of connecting with niche markets, such as the difficult-to-reach tween demographic, with highly targeted and innovative promotional solutions. In return, these activities present a new set of opportunities for us to extend our brands, build awareness of our programming and enhance our multi-platform content offering.”
The new division has already participated in a successful licensing and merchandising deal based on the Family Channel series Zoey 101. This deal was further leveraged with retailer La Senza Girl and resulted in an exclusive line of Zoey 101 apparel and accessories for fall/winter 2006. Strong consumer response to the integrated program prompted La Senza Girl to extend its deal with Family to include lines for Winter 2007 and beyond.
“The success that we experienced in our maiden venture with La Senza Girl has been very encouraging and we are looking forward to exploring other licensing and merchandising opportunities with some of our other programs and key properties,” said Holly Chapman, director, Astral Media Integrated Solutions.
In addition to licensing and merchandising opportunities, AMIS is also focusing on promotional sponsorships, which can leverage network programming to the benefit of Canadian businesses. Sponsorship opportunities range from on-air and interactive elements to grassroots events.
In the coming months AMIS is looking to develop sponsorship opportunities associated with The Movie Network’s interstitial fashion and beauty series “Movie Style,” the online loyalty program “Movie Miles,” and consumer events such as Family Channel’s “Spring Break Out Mall Tour.”
Other interactive sponsorship opportunities include games, contests, website sections, micro-sites, streamed video and SMS and user-generated content promotions.
Advertising opportunities are also available on www.themovienetwork.ca, www.viewerschoice.ca and www.family.ca. Family.ca, for example, has grown 86% in unique visitors over the past year, with monthly 2+ traffic averaging 813,000 unique visitors and 38,000,000 page impressions, boasting an average time spent per visit of 29 minutes, says the release.
