Mary Kathryn Flynn, TheDeal.com

Friday, July 25, 2008
MTV, NBC Integrating TV and Online Viewing

Television networks actually want their viewers to go online, according to Mary Kathleen Flynn, Senior Editor at Tech Confidential. Flynn, a veteran technology reporter who has covered the industry for CNN and MSNBC, describes describes how networks are using the Internet to deepen audience engagement.

Flynn reported this week that NBC Late Night will give Jimmy Fallon his own show online to test him out before he takes over for Conan O'Brien, and MTV Neworks formed a distribution partnership with DailyMotion to grow its online presence as well.

More time spent with a brand online will eventually translate to digital advertising revenue, Flynn says.

Digital monetization is clearly a keystone concern for network executives in today's web environment, but it's not clear that deepened engagement online will cause viewers to travel seamlessly back and forth between television and the Web.

The Gossip Girl experiment, which TelevisionWeek editor Greg Bauman explained in a recent interview, proved that it's not easy to dictate where consumers view media.

--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer
http://www.beet.tv/2008/07/a-television-ne.html