I've never worked at a station that does "watch and win"... so I'm curious, what do others think about them? Anyone have any good ideas? Does the astrerisk really matter?(I've been told no by one contest running station)
Here is something posted in B&C:
In an old-fashioned "watch and win" sweeps stunt, Local TV station KFOR Oklahoma City gave $500 to 18 lucky late-news viewers last month—with one of those winners randomly chosen for a 60-second romp in a bank vault stuffed with over $100,000 in loose bills.
The stunt was also a hit at sister station WREG Memphis. But while WREG's winner managed to grab around $7,000, Benny Meier walked away last week with nearly $18,000 from KFOR's vault.
Here's the good part: he's blind. But that hasn't stopped Meier, who's in his mid 60s, from running marathons (with a guide) or using his lanky frame to gather a bundle of bills.
"It made for really good television," says KFOR president/General Manager Jim Boyer, who concedes that the vault was stocked with bigger bills than WREG's.
Boyer says he hasn't seen a ratings uptick from the stunt, a practice generally frowned upon by news critics that can earn stations an asterisk in Nielsen ratings books.
But a Nielsen spokesperson says, "As long as they targeted the entire market with the promotion, not just the Nielsen homes, there's nothing wrong with it."
Thoughts? Ideas? Share with the class...
4 comments:
They do work, but they're also like a drug addiction: gives you a good buzz at first, but later the high wears down (viewers get numb to them), it's not as much fun as it once was, and you feel like you have to have them to survive.
Some people get on a high horse about doing contests, especially news directors, but the fact of the matter is some viewers out there ARE influenced to watch because of a contest.
Contests are just one more way to manipulate Nielsen's EXTREMELY flawed, monopolistic measurement system. TSR's are another.
If only Nielsen had a competitor... but that's a topic for another day.
Sorry for soapboxing.
I've used contests with radio partners mainly to get added value out of a radio buy... and a way to cut through the clutter on radio these days. I also think they work great to drive users to your website. We've done web only contests. Some GM's and ND's won't do contests associated with a newscast but sales loves them as added value to reel in new advertisers.
For me, the real danger is how much time and focus they take away from projects that promise more long term benefits. I agree they can become addictive.
I've worked at plenty of places that do them as a matter of course. Frankly, I haven't seen them have much effect; at least, not compared to the expense/effort.
If I had the same amount of $ to spend on outside media, I'd put it there...but that's a different line item, so it's hard to do that.
As far as "the asterisk" in the book, my experience and feeling is that no one ever has, or ever will, take into account that page of the Neilsen book. Have you ever looked at it? It doesn't exactly jump out and say "discount this station!"
My true hope is that as sweeps periods die (we get ratings and demos every day of the year in my market, and the number of these markets expands every year), such stunts will die with them.
I remember when a small SW Louisiana NBC affiliate gave away over $2.17 in their "Pennies from Heaven" sweeps contest.
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