Shenanigans at NBC?
The new prime time show Treasure Hunters has an interesting twist to it that NBC hopes will get PVR / DVR users ditch their time shifting habits. During the show, they run a contest that gives viewers a chance to win $10,000. The catch: you can only enter if you are watching it live.
Davis Freeberg has an interesting opinion on this whole matter over at his blog. In the post he goes on to discuss whether this is actually a give away or whether it is a lottery of sorts.
Although I am one for networks trying out new angles in order to cope with PVR / DVR use, something about this just feels a bit ‘off’. I am more of a fan of creating advertising that PVR / DVR users would like to watch (think along the lines of PVR / DVR ready commercials).
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo, NBC, time+shifting
I love that word Shenanigans. What a perfect description of what’s going on. It might not be illegal, but it does seem kind funny to me. The crazy part is that Genworth is providing the prize and they are supposed to advice clients on how to manage money. I wonder if anyone at Genworth would every take a 1 in a million shot to win $10,000?
“I wonder if anyone at Genworth would every take a 1 in a million shot to win $10,000?”
They probably would if it wasn’t their money.
If Genworth is providing the prize, then NBC is sitting real pretty at the moment. They don’t have to supply any prize money (not that $10,000 would be a lot for them) and they can sit back and enjoy revenue at Genworth’s expense. This actually sounds like a decent get rich quick scheme.
Interestingly enough the Wall Street Journal and Gigaom wrote about this same issue today, although they were a little more complimentary. Gigaom actually interviewed the company providing this technology and they said that they got over 580 Million votes alone on American Idol last season. If they can earn $1 per vote, this is more revenue then most small cap companies make in a whole year. Of course this pie gets split up and American Idol is the big dog, but considering that whole TV ad industry took in around $6 billion in up front ads this year, texting could end up being more lucrative then the advertising itself. Even if you only got $20 million from votes, that could still create a nice profit for a reality TV show that costs very little to make. If you also consider that the entire web video market is only expected to earn about $225 million this year, it puts that number into perspective. The more I look at this the more that I think that there is a hidden issue here not being addressed.