Social TV Is Stations’ Newest Engagement

THURSDAY

Social television, where people chat online about a show as they’re watching it, is in its infancy. But it’s rapidly changing, notably to the benefit of TV stations looking to engage their viewers in online conversations and give their advertisers an opportunity to do the same, according to Social Intel panelists at PromaxBDA Station Summit in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Among the speakers was Peter Szabo, West Coast regional director of advertising sales for Shazam Entertainment. He demonstrated how TV stations can put a Shazam logo on their screen to alert viewers that they can access additional content about a show or an about an advertiser on a second screen.

“This starts with television, but it’s a way to extend something beyond that first screen,” he said.

Another panelist, Stacy Jolna from ConnecTV, pinpointed for TV stations how they can use the ConnecTV app, which debuted earlier this month, to localize social TV content. ConnecTV is funded in part by the Pearl Consortium, a group of nine TV station groups.

“We are creating a more compelling two-screen experience,” he said. “A big trend we saw the past few years is TV shows going global. The one place that social had not yet gone is local. What we did is create a platform where ConnecTV is the only national social TV network with a local focus.”

The Pearl Nine is made up of: Belo, Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps, Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst, Media General, Meredith, Post-Newsweek Stations and Raycom.

WEDNESDAY

This is the second year that networks and their affiliates are meeting at PromaxBDA Station Summit.

This year, ABC, CBS, The CW, NBC and Spanish-language network Telemundo are holding affiliate meetings. The idea is to beef up the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by ensuring that the networks and their stations implement strategies that complement one another.

“We brainstorm and figure out how to use certain tactics on the network side as well as on the local manager side,” says Provencio. “It’s nice because so often there isn’t one coherent message. Now, we are all marching together.”

Years ago, PromaxBDA’s predecessor, the Broadcast Promotion Association, held an annual event that was similar to Station Summit.

But that event faded away about a decade ago. Since then, the networks have been meeting on their own with affiliates. In fact, later this summer Fox will hold its Fox Promotion Executive Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The idea behind Station Summit is to give general managers and marketing executives a one-stop opportunity to meet with networks, syndicators and TV station groups.

“This is what Promax used to be,” says Jonathan Block-Verk, president-CEO of PromaxBDA. “This is about sharing ideas, sharing best practices and tools. It’s about how to use social media and other strategies to build and monetize audiences across all platforms.”

The Summit continues through Friday.

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TUESDAY

The second annual PromaxBDA Station Summit, which got underway today, is already off to a stronger start than its impressive rookie year in 2011. Registrations are pacing 40% over last year and at least 15 TV station groups are attending this year’s promotion and marketing summit at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, according to PromaxBDA President-CEO Jonathan Block-Verk.

“Last year, we expected 150 people and we had more than 500,” he says. “Last year, we had two networks — ABC and NBC — this year, we have five.”

ABC, CBS and NBC are holding affiliate meetings today. Telemundo is having its meeting on Wednesday and The CW is on Thursday.

Six syndicators are participating in Studio Day tomorrow. CBS Television Distribution, Debmar-Mercury, NBC Universal Television Distribution, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Television and Warner Bros. are meeting with TV station marketing, promotion and creative service executives.

“The station groups are having station group meetings,” adds Block-Verk. “This began as an idea for a two-day, 150-person meeting. It has evolved into a four-day summit.”