The idea of “premiere week” has long since disappeared, with new shows debuting as early as August and as late as November in recent years. Now premiere week is becoming even more passé with the migration of some premiere episodes online and elsewhere. Fox said last week that it is making “K-Ville” available for download before its Sept. 17 premiere, while NBC will put the pilot episodes of new dramas “Chuck,” “Bionic Woman,” “Journeyman” and “Life” on video-on-demand via cable and satellite carriers. That comes a year after NBC distributed copies of the “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” pilot through Netflix weeks before its debut. Response to early premieres has been mixed. While some media people think it’s a smart way to build buzz, others say it could become a buzz killer. If a pilot doesn’t live up to expectations, viewers may write off the show entirely before it’s even premiered. Or worse, they may like the pilot but not watch the program in its usual slot, because they forgot it had begun or got sick of waiting for new episodes. Heather Kruse, group media director at Fallon in Minneapolis, talks to Media Life about the wisdom of online premieres, why they may be ubiquitous in five years, and why they’re different for cable and broadcast.
Fox is debuting “K-Ville” online before its Sept. 17 debut, joining a number of others that were available. Do you think this is a smart strategy and why or why not?
I think it says something about the viewers they expect. They might be younger, and a little bit more engaged if they’re going to take the time out to watch the premiere online.
It’s still a new thing to go to the computer to watch TV, and debuting a show there gets the right people to talk about it. It can go a long way, but only if it gets the viewership in the end.
Do you think debuting pilots online in advance of their TV debuts is a smart strategy in general? Why?
In three years, when everybody’ doing it, it won’t be unique.
More and more networks will realize where their target audience will view the premiere episode. Some will be on TV, some will be online, others will be on-demand, etc.
What would be more interesting would be if they aired the pilot buyers see in February and gave consumers the opportunity to react and see what they like before the shows go into development.
That’s one thing which no one has really done yet.
Is it different for broadcast and cable?
Broadcast would have to work harder to get people to go online and view a new program, because broadcast networks have programs for a wide variety of people.
Viewers align more with cable networks, but not quite as much with broadcast networks. To get a certain audience to go online and watch “K-Ville” is a different thing than a cable network that already has loyal viewers.
Do you think we'll get to a point where all the pilots will be available online before they officially premiere? Why or why not?
Potentially.
It’s not necessarily that it’s online, but available where and when the consumer wants to watch it. We could definitely get to that point. It could be on-demand, or pay-per-view, or online. But you won’t have to wait until, say, Tuesday at 8 p.m. to watch it. But then the challenge for the networks is to maintain that event status, that premiere-episode status.
How can the networks then ensure that people will stay interested in and excited about the coming season if they've already seen the pilots?
I think they just have to build up the pilots differently. Maybe it’s a preview online, or it only premieres online. They have to build the hype differently and consumers will stay interested, especially if they can watch it when they want to watch it.
What are other ways the networks have used their sites well to hype fall shows, if at all?
I haven’t seen a whole lot about the fall season. I can’t think of a program right now that seems to be promoted heavily online. People talk about things like that, and I haven’t heard much. If anything, they’re letting consumers control and find out what their new season is.
ABC.com has a countdown on its site, but other than that they seem to be letting consumers find out about the shows on their own. If anything, they are just providing more information about their shows than they used to.
