Turner Media creates interactive ads

Dish Network carries channels that meld products to programs

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, May 27, 2006

When Ford launched its ad campaign for the 2007 Explorer earlier this year, EchoStar's Dish Network subscribers got more than the standard 30-second spot.

As viewers watched the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii, a race sponsored by Ford, a button appeared on their screen inviting them to see more about the SUV. The race shrunk to a corner of the TV screen as viewers opted to locate their nearest dealership, see safety features and request brochures.

"An educated consumer is in a better position, mentally, to make a purchase," said Gary Turner, founder and chief executive of Denver-based Turner Media Group, which helped create the ad. Turner isn't affiliated with Turner Broadcasting Systems.

After years of hype and false starts, interactive advertising seems to be gaining traction. Turner Media, which is both an ad agency and a provider of eight interactive TV channels, in recent months has taken on clients including the U.S. Navy, Lexus and home-security provider ADT.

"In the course of the past year, the response has been, 'Oh my God, this is really here,' " said Jodie McAfee, Turner's senior vice president of corporate development and marketing.

The 100-employee Turner Media Group is privately held and doesn't disclose revenue, but its Turner Advertising Group subsidiary is responsible for $250 million in media sales each year.

Since 1998, Turner also has been the exclusive interactive ad representative for Douglas County-based Dish, the largest interactive-TV platform with some 12 million customers.

Dish also carries all eight of Turner's interactive-TV channels, which meld product placements and original programming. Viewers watch shows like adventure fishing program Wild on the Fly that don't seem like ads, but viewers can click their remote to find out more about the fishing rods and gear.

Several of the channels are carried on other cable systems. Men's Outdoor & Fishing posts the widest distribution to 25 million households. Turner expects the market for its ad sales and channels to grow as more cable operators experiment with interactive technology and phone companies like AT&T come online with their pay-TV services, which are "perfect" interactive platforms, McAfee said.

For cable and satellite operators, the stable of channels is attractive because Turner Media shares its revenues rather than charging a fee like most programmers. The interactive platform has perks for advertisers as well, such as the ability to track the number of viewers for each ad and where they live.

"You know when a consumer raises their hand and wants more information," said Brian Bos, convergence director with JWT Detroit, who worked on the Ford Explorer campaign.

Sometimes the ads convert directly into sales. Shopping network Jewelry TV saw its Dish customer purchases surge 20 percent after it ran 30-second spots on a variety of channels that allowed viewers to click on an icon that took them directly to the channel, said Andy Caldwell, Jewelry TV's vice president of affiliate marketing.

"TV shopping is an impulse buy," and this makes it even easier, Caldwell said.

Turner Media Group's interactive-TV channels

• The Men's Channel

• Men's Outdoors

• Healthy Living Channel

• Beauty & Fashion

• iShop TV

• iDrive TV

• Resorts & Residence

• America's Preview