For the Walt Disney Co, plans to make television shows available free online are a way to bolster revenue by selling two sets of advertising -- TV commercials and online ads -- for a single show.
For advertisers, the online offerings represent an opportunity to capture the attention of particularly Web-savvy consumers who do not have the luxury of fast- forwarding through the ads as they can on a digital video recorder.
On Monday, Disney announced details of the plan. Starting next month, the company will begin a two-month trial that will make four ABC shows -- Desperate Housewives, Lost, Commander in Chief and Alias -- available for free viewing online the day after they are broadcast. The plan was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.
Unilever Plc is among the advertisers that bought ads for the initial test run.
Noreen Simmons, Unilever's director of strategic media planning, said she expected that consumers who were watching shows in streaming video online would be more alert than if they were watching the same content on television.
"It's going to be a different viewing experience," Simmons said. "Rather than people sitting back in their chairs watching TV, this is going to be a lean-forward experience."
A string of other companies -- including Cingular Wireless LLC, Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, Procter & Gamble Co and Universal Pictures -- have also purchased ads, a spokeswoman for Disney said. Jon Winsell, the director of online media strategy for ID Society, an interactive marketing agency in New York, said people who were willing to log on to a computer to watch a missed episode might be loyal enough to tolerate the unskippable commercial breaks.
"When you're talking about Desperate Housewives or Lost, you're talking about a rabid fan base, so they're probably willing to put up with a little more," Winsell said. "They will sit through the spot."
Some advertisers are looking at the Web site as a way to find consumers wherever they are taking in content.
Mark Simmons, the national manager of advertising strategy and media for Toyota, said the company viewed Disney's new offering primarily as an experiment.
"We wanted to basically test this and learn what we can," Simmons said. "I think the measurement will be in how many people view these Webisodes."
The plan is the first time a broadcast network will give away full-length, hit prime-time TV shows on the Internet. It is also an indication of the pressure networks are feeling from popular video-on-demand services, which are offered by cable operators, among others, and allow viewers to see TV shows and movies when they want.
In addition to the four ABC shows, the Web site will carry content from three of Disney's cable channels, the Disney Channel, Soapnet and ABC Family.
Richard Parsons, chairman of Time Warner, said he was not concerned about the possibility of Disney content cannibalizing video-on-demand from cable companies.
"It's the same way video-on- demand is going," Parsons said. "You have to have a full suite of video. The notion that someone is going to hollow out the business, I don't see that happening."
Like other media companies, Disney is trying to rally attention in an out-of-favor sector, said Michael Nathanson, a media analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
"A lot of companies are trying experiments like these, not just Disney," Nathanson said.
"But no one knows what the business model is and whether it will pay off," he said.
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