Execs thinking outside the tube

DIGITAL Mania has descended.

Sure, there will be plenty of fussing over the return of Matthew Perry and other celebs to television this week, but many of the big splashes at the upfronts will be about techie stuff: digital strategies and new platforms -- plans for launching new fall shows with accompanying original content on the Web, cellphones and iPods; streaming video of current episodes online; and new broadband entertainment channels.

“It’s much more in the wind now,” said NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. “Up until a year or so ago, it was maybe a peripheral conversation at best. It’s now a regular part of our daily discussion. We call it ‘360 development.’ Now, we are certainly talking right out of the gate, ‘Here’s a great show, we love it, what is its digital capability?’ With some shows, it just kind of takes very naturally, and those are the ones you know you’re going to have a winner.”

At the network’s presentation today, NBC Universal Television Group Chief Executive Jeff Zucker will announce NBC’s digital strategy, including plans to hire separate writing staffs to launch original content on different platforms for new shows.

At the CBS presentation at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, executives are expected to devote substantial time to innertube, the network’s new broadband entertainment channel, said JoAnn Ross, president of network sales. “The clients out there looking for fast reach still believe in broadcast television, but they do want to have a toe in the water in this new space,” Ross said. “Some of them want big ideas. Some of them want to do tests. Some want to do one [platform] versus another.”

ABC, already a leader in original show-related content for the Web, will probably spotlight its current project to stream video of shows such as “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” on its site the day after episodes air.

“In our experience, the best shows still drive the platform,” said Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group. “People come to you because they know ‘Desperate,’ they know ‘Lost.’ That is the base that we build on and then expand.”

At the end of this month, Fox will end its fourth consecutive season in first place among 18- to 34-year-old viewers, and the network plans to stress to advertisers its ability to reach that demographic not just on television but also online. For the first time at the upfronts, Ross Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media, will be giving a presentation to emphasize the vast reach of the company’s websites (Americanidol.com and MySpace.com) among young people.

“The reality of the business is that certainly the core demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds are multi-tasking all the time now,” Levinsohn said. “They’re experiencing media and not just on television. I think it’s important for us as a company to be in all those places.”

But network presidents agree that quality content yields multi-platform opportunities and not vice versa. They also know that even with the touting of loads of digital product, advertisers are sure to keep mainly to the traditional route.

“The traditional method of using a 30-second spot is very alive and well, and will continue to be for some time,” said Shari Anne Brill, program director for the media-buying firm Carat USA. Advertisers will be looking for networks to detail the demographics they can reach through the digital media, Brill added.

“These platforms and technology are terrific, but they’re additive and they’re all small at this point,” said Steve McPherson, ABC’s president of prime-time entertainment. “We’re going to see a lot of them fail and a lot of them work in certain ways but not necessarily the way everyone thinks they will. The bottom line is that content is still driving all these decisions.”

Before advertisers are wooed by technology, they must first be fans of the programming, Brill agreed. “It doesn’t matter if I can get NBC content in all these places,” she said. “I need to first hear that the NBC content is going to be good.”