MSN Tries to Get in Sync With Teens
Microsoft is reaching down to a new class of customers: screaming teeny-boppers.
The PC software giant unveiled a customized version of its MSN Internet access service Tuesday that revolves around chart-topping boy band *Nsync. The goal is to lift MSN out of its also-ran status behind AOL and EarthLink by turning junior high kids into loyal $22-per-month subscribers.
“The younger audience of today is the mainstream audience of tomorrow. If you’re not playing for the kids [on the Internet], you’re not playing in their natural medium,” said Brad Chase, senior vice president of MSN.
Offering subscribers little from the band beyond pictures, chats and newsletters, the deal could be a windfall for *Nsync, which will receive an undisclosed portion of the monthly subscription fees, according to band manager Barry J. Klarberg.
Mark Weiss of MusicVision, a company that helps bands establish a presence on the Internet, said Microsoft came to MusicVision “wanting to reach a very young, targeted audience.” Through *Nsync, he said, MSN gets that on a mass scale.
MSN officials stressed that they will be very sensitive to concerns about gathering personal information from children. “In areas like privacy, security, we’re just going to be hard-core about doing a good job,” Chase said.
The new service will be available Friday, and, according to MSN officials, minors will need to have a parent subscribe for them.
Nevertheless, the company has no qualms about trying to persuade minors--the bulk of *Nsync’s fans--to sign up. It’s fair to market to kids, Chase said, if it’s done in a positive, non-exploitative way.
The alliance is part of Microsoft’s “.Net” strategy, selling Web-based services instead of just software. The *NSYNC@MSN service offers all the features of conventional MSN--including e-mail, chat, instant messaging, Web browsing and personal finance tools--in addition to a heavy dose of band-related activities.
The broad range of services should help hold users after their ardor for *Nsync has cooled. But Chase said, “We’re optimistic about the staying power of *Nsync.”
For their part, the lads of *Nsync pledge to give subscribers exclusive backstage pictures and videos, chat with them online and, potentially, provide a customized radio station.
“You’ll have us in your face all the time. If you haven’t been sick of us yet, you will be,” said *Nsync’s Chris Kirkpatrick.
Two fans who waited outside the band’s news conference in Beverly Hills, 25-year-old Keari Gutierrez of Downey and 26-year-old Marie Alcantar of Montebello, said they’d be willing to sign up for the new service. Gutierrez already subscribes to MSN, so that’s no net gain for Microsoft, but Alcantar just bought her first computer and was looking for an Internet service provider.
“If it makes it easier and you get more information [about the band], yeah, it would be worth it,” Alcantar said.
The service won’t be able to supply *Nsync song files, however--those rights still belong to the band’s label, Jive.
