YouTube and the big networks
For the big US TV networks, YouTube has gone from being a target of takedown notices to being another source of viewers for their content. Clips from Saturday Night Live have frequently found their way onto the service, ripped from the TV presentation and now NBC are putting them up directly, as well as on their own sites. And they have got comfortable enough in doing so tp get PR out of the fact; so following the release of a uncensored version of one of the skits it was time to call in New York Times to do a piece (registration required) about how edgy they are and how they are using the new medium.
A song with Justin Timberlake about using parts of the anatomy for Christmas gift was quickly released (with beeps intact) on YouTube over the weekend. NBC followed with their version (and got the rest taken down); they released a version without the beeps that covered the multiple uses of the word ‘dick’*. And told the world the story of how they took this extremely risky decision:
We were all laughing,” said Mr. Ludwin, who had been accompanied by a representative from the NBC legal department. And then Mr. Ludwin said he had a change of heart.
“Those people who go on the Internet will not be shocked by this,” Mr. Ludwin recalled thinking. “Obviously there are some people who will be offended. Those people are probably unlikely to go searching for it on the Internet. It’s just funny.”
Still, the material was touchy enough, Mr. Ludwin said, that he sought final approval for the Web version of the video from the highest echelons of NBC, including Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment , and Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal Television Group.. Both approved the idea, he said. Another executive suggested that a disclaimer be placed before the Web-only version of the video that warned of its explicit content, a proposal that was immediately accepted.
And in 4 days it’s had nearly 4 million views, not bad for a segment of a show that pulls in 7 million viewers every week. There’s nothing like a bit of controversy to get people to watch your stuff. On technorati it’s currently the number 1 linked video (3x the next one) and the buzz rating has increased dramatically.
Posts that contain NBC SNL per day for the last 30 days.
Get your own chart!
*from a British perspective, the fact that this was censored in the first place (it was shown around 1am) is unbelievable, never mind that you could get a huge PR story in the papers about how you let it go out uncensored. In the UK, you could find that term used in primetime soaps, although such a song is likely to go out after the watershed.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Buzz Marketing, User Generated Content
0 opinions for YouTube and the big networks
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: