IP Democracy: ABC: Online TV Shows Are a Permanent Fixture

Disney-owned ABC has seen the web video light and plans to make its ad-supported TV shows a permanent online feature. Disney’s two-month test of offering hit shows such as “Desperate Housewives,” “Commander in Chief,” “Lost” and “Alias” at no charge via its abc.com web site has revealed gold in the Internet hills.

Online viewing of these programs drew a younger (average age 29), more educated audience. The shows were watched 16 million times and 87% of the viewers remembered the names of the affiliated sponsors, more than double the 40% sponsor recall for TV-based programs.

(On Monday, we’ll publish over at IP Media Monitor a more in-depth article by Paige Albiniak on ABC’s online experiment, featuring more detailed statistics from the research and an interview with Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for the Disney-ABC Television Group.)

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on August 5, 2006 12:32 PM to IP Democracy