On-demand usually translates to "after the fact" of an initial airing on a linear channel. HBO On Demand took that idea and turned it upside down with popular cop drama "The Wire," premiering every episode of its fourth season on-demand first, a week ahead of its linear airing.

"There were three real challenges, or opportunities, to address here," said Rishi Malhotra, director of HBO On Demand/Advanced Products. "One was to heighten awareness for one of our most acclaimed series. Second was to grow the consumer value proposition of HBO On Demand. And the third piece was to partner with our affiliates to deliver a compelling offering of both the programming as well as a platform premiere of an entire season."

The trick, said Mr. Malhotra, was to roll up all three challenges into a single, cohesive strategy. The debut of "The Wire" as a premiere on the On Demand platform was also a premiere for the network, and HBO On Demand had no precedent to follow.

"This was definitely a first for us," said Mr. Malhotra. "Our strategy was to galvanize and work with all the cross-functional teams, including scheduling, original programming and advertising, so we integrated the message and timing across all groups."

First, and most obvious, was the message: "See It First on HBO On Demand." "That message was integrated across all platforms, including all the on-air advertising," said Mr. Malhotra. "Everywhere you heard about ‘The Wire,’ there was a mention of ‘See It First on HBO On Demand.’"

An important part of the strategy was to develop discrete additional content. HBO made a big commitment by producing two half-hour documentary-style short features that looked at the show, its characters and the city of Baltimore. "It

didn’t play on the linear channel until after the premiere, but everywhere we released the two short features, they were attached to the ‘See It First On Demand’ message," Mr. Malhotra said. "They were a significant way to help generate awareness of the campaign and that we were premiering ‘The Wire’ episodes that season on-demand."

"We were definitely committed to getting behind the show with content," said Malhotra. "The way I phrase it, we use content to market content."

Another tactic was to embrace guerrilla marketing. That included making sure the show—and the message that it would premiere on-demand—mdash;had a presence on MySpace as well as numerous fan sites. "The existing fan base are undoubtedly the show’s biggest evangelists," said Mr. Malhotra. "And as awareness of the show’s first time on-demand grew, fans helped spread the message. We saw that grow over the season."

Working with affiliate partners was another part of the strategy. "It goes without saying that we worked with our affiliate partners to position it as a key event for 2006, not just for HBO On Demand, but for the HBO main channel, too," he said. "We position ‘The Wire’ as a significant piece for our affiliates’ campaigns with ‘See It First On Demand.’ It really encouraged them to support the show on HBO."

The results were spectacular. "The success of the entire campaign is that season four alone generated over 20 million orders on HBO On Demand," said Mr. Malhotra. "It was one of our top performing series ever on HBO On Demand."

Since then, HBO On Demand has done subsequent campaigns for other series, including "Def Poetry" and "Extras," and plans to continue "The Wire’s" success with season five.

With this experience under his belt, Mr. Malhotra extracts a lesson learned. "I think given the number of emerging platforms that are out there, that experimenting with programming and timing is enabling us to learn what audiences are responding to," he said. "And that, in and of itself, is a big thing."

• Consumers in Control at CTAM Summit CASE STUDY WINNERS
• First Place: Content Provider Division - HBO On Demand: 'The Wire'
• First Place: Content Distributor Division - Rogers Cable's TVB On Demand
• Second Place: Content Provider Division - NBC Universal's 'King Kong' on Demand