By Michael Mahoney E-Commerce Times
08/30/01 5:49 PM PT
Internet auctioneer eBay's new TV show won't have to get stellar ratings to
be a success, an analyst said.
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eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) said Wednesday that it reached a
deal with Columbia TriStar Television Distribution (CTTD), a division of Sony Pictures
Entertainment (NYSE: SNE), to produce a
daily syndicated television show focusing
on "the stories behind the millions of items traded
daily on eBay and other venues."
Slated for fall 2002, the series will be produced by eBay and
LMNO Productions, the same company behind other reality
TV shows such as "Guinness World Records: Primetime"
and "Boot Camp."
The new collectibles show will be run during
afternoon and early-fringe time slots, eBay said.
"To the extent that eBay can garner any audience via the
traditional TV medium, it should boost awareness and
interest in the auction style services it offers on the Web,"
Yankee Group analyst Steve Vonder Haar told the
E-Commerce Times. "It tightens the links between the
collectibles market and eBay, which drives much
of its auctions."
Hot or Not
eBay is betting that it can move many of its estimated 34
million registered users into the lucrative television ad market,
as well as tap into the large TV viewing audience that
eBay says is made up of active collectors.
VonDerHaar said that the new series does not have to
be an enormous ratings success to make the new
series a smart move for eBay.
"Whatever size megaphone eBay generates for itself in
traditional TV, it's a boost to the company's brand image
and its efforts to drive traffic on a day-to-day basis,"
said Vonder Haar. "It doesn't have to have the ratings
success of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' to
qualify as a successful business proposition for eBay."
Station Break
According to eBay, the new series will
offer local TV stations a variety of cross-promotional
opportunities, including online links between
the station Web sites and eBay.
"Television stations around the country are consistent in
their desire for programming projects that will have the
versatility and quality to become long-term franchises,"
said CTTD president of programming Russ Krasnoff.
Long Time Coming
The idea of cross-promotion between traditional media
and online retail is nothing new, Vonder Haar said,
pointing to MSNBC and Yahoo's Internet Life magazine as examples.
In fact, eBay started taking steps toward such cross-promotion
nearly a year ago. In October 2000, eBay and the
Walt Disney Internet Group (NYSE: DIG) launched
a co-branded auction site called Disney Auctions,
which also offers ESPN and ABC merchandise.
At the time, eBay also announced its intention to
create a TV show about its online auctions. ABC
was reportedly the frontrunner in early negotiations.
Despite eBay's success online, the Internet
auction house is moving into relatively unchartered
territory with a reality TV show based on a Web site.
Efforts to get TV viewers to carry their
viewing interests onto the Internet, through
interactive television offerings such as WebTV
and AOLTV, have generally met with
lukewarm response.
it offers on the Web,"
Yankee Group analyst Steve Vonder Haar told the
E-Commerce Times. "It tightens the links between the
collectibles market and eBay, which drives much
of its auctions."
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