Where's the Ad

If TV networks have been a bit slow in figuring out how to attract eyeballs to their sites, the impetus to speed up that process might just be the marketers on whom the networks rely for ad revenue.  Major media buyers are now negotiating packages that are increasingly including an online component reports the Wall Street Journal.

At this year's upfronts, the network TV dog and pony shows that promote fall line ups, and also where most of the ad buys for the next year are made, digital ad buys made a noticeable splash in overall ad buys for the first time. For marketers, it's a easy addition - for the most part companies run the same ads that are shown on TV.  And it's a smart step. According to research, people actually pay more attention to online ads than to those on regular TV.

But for a few networks, even this news is yesterday's.  At the ABC Family network, the next steps is the blurring of the line between ads and shows, with the network using product placements in story shorts during commercial breaks. The network announced a new creative short, "Nikki in the City," this month that is not only the network's answer to Sex in the City complete with a single, stylish, working and dating, woman. But more importantly, it's a vehicle ready made for advertisers with product placement opportunities galore in each short. Are feature length ads next?