Defeating the DVR to Promote Shows

Fox Borrows Page From Advertisers’ Pod-Busting Book

By Josef Adalian

Fox’s on-air promotions team has quietly opened a new front in TV’s ongoing war against digital video recorders.

With little fanfare, the network in recent weeks has started sprinkling its commercial breaks with what it’s calling “TiVo-busters”—spots designed to be effective even when viewers use a DVR to fast-forward through advertising.

In addition, the network has been using the commercial breaks during “American Idol” to test out its commercial “podbusters,” original content interspersed throughout sponsorship breaks that’s designed to get viewers to pay attention to advertising. It’s the latest iteration of the podbusting strategy Fox has employed in other shows.

Podbusters aren’t new: Networks from NBC to BBC America have tested them. Their use on TV’s most-watched show, however, could take the concept to a new level.

As for the TiVo-buster promotions, the first campaign is a 10-second tune-in spot for new drama “Lie to Me” that plays with graphics and motion in a bid to make an impression on viewers no matter how they watch TV.

A viewer watching Fox in real time would see “Lie” lead Tim Roth leaning in toward the camera in slow motion. There’s intense music and audio of Mr. Roth saying, “I know when you’re lying.”
Those viewers who scan past the ad while holding down the fast-forward button on their DVRs obviously won’t hear the audio. But the spot’s key elements—a single shot of Mr. Roth and a large graphical representation of the show’s logo that stays on-screen throughout—were designed so they’re noticeable even when viewed during a fast-forward sprint.

“No matter what speed you’re watching it, you get motion and you get copy,” said Joe Earley, Fox’s executive VP in charge of marketing. “The point of the creative is not to stop you [from fast-forwarding]. It’s to convey the tune-in message and the show information no matter what mode you’re in.”

Mr. Earley said designing so-called “TiVo-buster” promos is challenging, since DVRs don’t all move at the same speed. The fast-forward function on DirecTV’s recorder might move more quickly than a Time Warner Cable DVR or the TiVo-brand machine.

In the case of “Lie to Me,” Fox found footage from the show that lent itself to the slow, single-shot format needed to work at any speed.

Other TiVo-busting promos are under consideration. But because these types of ads don’t allow for as much creativity as regular spots, Mr. Earley said he didn’t expect the network to make frequent use of the concept.

“We would only do it when it works,” he said. “This is not something you can do on every show or every day, nor would we want to.”

Mr. Earley has more ambitious plans for commercial-break podbusters, both during “Idol” and in other shows.

The first “Idol” podbusters began showing up in late February, when host Ryan Seacrest urged viewers to stay tuned during an upcoming break for exclusive footage from the show’s audition rounds. About midway through the break, Fox showed viewers exactly that.

Unlike the TiVo-buster promotions, the podbusters are designed to get viewers to stop fast-forwarding during a commercial break, or keep them from pressing the fast-forward button at all.

“We’re doing a lot of things to make our air as interesting as possible,” Mr. Earley said. “We want viewers to be entertained not only by the (series) content, but by the promos and these other experiments we’re doing to give them show-related content during breaks. The hope is that you don’t need to check out what’s on another channel or hit fast-forward because you’re always being entertained.”

In the case of the “Idol” podbusters, Fox took promotional time normally used to hype another series on the network to instead give viewers “more content from the show they already like,” Mr. Earley explained. Eventually, he said, the network hopes audiences will pick up on the fact that Fox has made the entire viewing experience—not just individual series—more enjoyable.

Mr. Earley’s team is currently in the planning stages on podbusters featuring original content from “Bones,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and at least one more show. For now, Madison Avenue isn’t involved in these experimental podbusters, though Mr. Earley wouldn’t mind if that changed.

“We would love to eventually find a partner who would want to sponsor this content,” he said, cautioning that any such deals would be struck by Fox’s sales division and not marketing.

Another way Fox is trying to make its promos feel more like original content is by launching a new series of image spots featuring the network’s stars in more relaxed moments.

“Entertaining you is our business. How we do it is the fun part,” a graphic message during one ad reads. “So Real. So Fun. So Fox.”

Fox’s promotions team worked closely with the network’s public relations team to identify moments during photo shoots and breaks from filming that showed off actors’ softer side. A spot for “Bones,” for example, features Emily Deschanel dazed and confused after an intense kiss from co-star David Boreanaz.

The goal is to bring viewers behind the scenes on Fox shows, giving audiences a peek into the lives of the people involved in the making of their favorite programs.

“We want to be more accessible to our viewers,” Mr. Earley said. “We’re the network for younger viewers. We want to be real.”