This time last year, Fox Interactive Media didn’t exist (at least publicly). This year, FIM played a key role in the Fox upfront presentation—as News Corp. hopes it will when the upfront starts to show results.
We couldn’t be there but based on some notes from someone who was present it sounds like it was a cross between the presentations FIM president Ross Levinsohn has been making at investor gatherings and the ad pitch tone of the upfronts. No new primetime-interactive plans announced. (Earlier this week, American Idol audio and video downloads went on sale.) Among the points made:
-- Led by MySpace.com, with 75 million uniques in April, FIM has a larger reach than the sites of NBC, CBS and ABC combined.
-- More than 30 billion page views in April
-- Users streamed of more than 250 million videos
-- Users spent more than 11 million online at FIM sites
The heart of the pitch: last month Fox reached almost 50 percent of all 18-34s online.
-- Can the CW make TV a five horse race?: When the merger of the WB and UPN was announced, I suggested the new network would want a strong new media component. At Thursday’s upfront, as CNN MOney reports, head of entertainment Dawn Ostroff outlined plans for online, mobile and iTunes. She said the site will have interactive and social networking elements as part of its appeal to 18-34s.
-- Virginia Heffernan: “They’ve got some decent ideas about incorporating viewers into online fan geegaws, and letting advertisers sponsor fan-generated video. Digital brand extension makes most sense here on the CW, where the shows attract superempowered fans, and where the demo is accustomed to multi-screen entertainment.”