Didja.com to feature “entertaining advertising”
NBC Universal has announced its intention to launch a new video portal site, Didja.com, in early 2008. This site won’t feature the same streams and webisodes that can be found on other NBCU-sponsored sites, though - Didja.com is going to be dedicated specifically to entertaining TV spots, with product offers and brand pages available as well.
The purpose of Didja.com, and similar sites like Droga5? To bouy the more traditional TV advertising that TiVo, web streams, and file sharing have crippled. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little fun, either, and TV spots are often rated highly on sites like YouTube, giving NBCU reason to think that a video site dedicated solely to ads could still get quite a few visitors.
Chris McCumber, the senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy at USA Network (part of NBCU), had this to say about Didja.com’s viewing appeal:
“Advertising should be treated as entertainment. We know people love commercials. You see that around the Super Bowl and Academy Awards. Why not create a destination where it’s celebrated?”
According to NBCU predictions, Didja.com will expand to include things like movie trailers and promotions for TV shows themselves, with higher paying advertisers (and NBCU properties) earning better placement and visibility on the site.
Visitors will also be able to comment on the commercials and use a “mash-up toolkit” to remix them right on the site, which may give Didja.com a little of the user-gen flavor so many Web sites are adopting.
(Source: Media Week)
