Security Stunt Offline = Higher Ratings Online?
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | February 6, 2007 | Share This
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According to CNET, Turner Broadcasting will pay $2 million for their Aqua Teen Hunger Force stunt that caused a bomb scare in Boston. From CNET,
“The settlement includes $1 million to the cities of Boston, Somerville and Cambridge along with Massachusetts state agencies and another $1 million in “good will funds” to finance homeland security and other programs by various groups.”
Think $2M is a lot for a botched stunt? Well, thanks to the press coverage generated by the event, you might call it just another advertising cost. According to MediaPost,
“Ratings for the show on Thursday, Feb. 1–a day after the story broke but the publicity wave crested–showed that household ratings jumped 20%, versus the Thursday broadcast (12 to 12:15 a.m.) the week before.
“Web traffic for sites linked with the show–CartoonNetwork.com and AdultSwim.com–saw significant increases. AdultSwim.com saw traffic swell by 77% on Feb. 1, the day after the story broke, versus the Thursday the week before, according to Hitwise.
“Nielsen//NetRatings data showed that unique users for CartoonNetwork.com (a site many interested observers might visit) jumped from 385,000 on the Thursday before the story to 790,000 the day after the story broke.”
Though the traffic surge may be only temporary, for Aqua Teen Hunger Force (and Adult Swim for that matter), the mere mainstream coverage might generate a long term boost in traffic and ratings.
Topics: Media Convergence |