Oprah found a new home today. Harpo Productions announced the launch of the Oprah Channel on YouTube, with special content such as Tom Cruise jumping in the green room and interviews with "The Evolution of Dance" guy.
For marketers, this may be the final impetus to move ad dollars away from traditional broadcast to online video formats. Some analysts have remained skeptical, pointing out that about three-quarters of political advertising in 2008, or $2.5 billion, will be spent on old-school TV. But consider the facts: DVR sales are rising to nearly 20% market penetration, and as Broadcasting & Cable reports, most major primetime shows are now posted online for free. The cable networks are scared silly about where all these consumer eyeballs are headed ...
Vince Manze, NBC president of program planning scheduling and strategy, also says he is not taking audiences returning at the same levels for granted. “Overall, I think we all would be happy with flat,” he says. “That's a victory these days.”The real reason online video rocks is it now unlocks marketing opportunities you can't find in the living-room black box. It's mobile -- YouTube is on iPhones. It is international -- YouTube has customized formats for 14 nations outside the U.S. And it costs almost nothing, but a prayer, to hope your message goes viral, gets posted on other sites, and reaches hundreds of millions of consumers. Imagine the conversation in your Marketing department if media buyers promised you 100 GRPs on a cable network, with the chance to go exponentially to 10,000 GRPs if only your idea is clever enough. Who wouldn't be tempted?
Now, Oprah has a TV channel online. Where she goes, ad dollars will follow.
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