Sweep 'Em Into VOD…Mag Rack + Charter = One Sticky Sweepstakes

Cable World, Feb 7, 2005

By John P. Ourand

As MSOs continue to roll out VOD into more of their markets, they keep running into the same problem: getting subs to sample VOD when they don't know what it is or where they can find it. Charter, for one, has found that offering subscribers the chance to win prizes can go a long way toward demystifying an acronym.

This month, Charter is dusting off its most successful VOD marketing tactic from 2004: using a consumer sweepstakes to drive its on-demand platform. The MSO is partnering with content aggregator TVN and Hollywood studios Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Rogue Pictures for a Watch & Win Sweepstakes intended to increase VOD awareness and usage. The grand prize is a Samsung 42-inch HD-ready plasma TV.

Back in October, Charter partnered with Mag Rack on a sweepstakes campaign that was among the most successful for both companies last year. The campaign was rolled out into four Charter markets (three in the Midwest and Los Angeles) and produced gaudy results.

"We spend most of our time trying to get people to find the on-demand platform because it is one of those unique things that creates a lot of buzz in the community," says Barbara Hedges, Charter's VP, broadband marketing. "Things like sweepstakes are an excellent way for people to go and just check it out and see what's there. Once they find it, they end up exploring it and buying more."

Digital subscribers automatically were entered into the sweepstakes for a home entertainment system when they viewed Mag Rack's VOD programming; the companies publicized the sweepstakes by sending direct mail pieces to digital subs. Charter also relied on a lot of cross-channel promotion to get the word out. "That made a big difference," says Daniel Ronayne, Mag Rack's SVP/GM.

The support Mag Rack received from every level of Charter's operation-- down to the CSRs--also played a big part in the success of the campaign. Handouts, marketing materials at walk-in centers and CSR training helped drive the promotion, Ronayne says.

The sweepstakes campaign largely was responsible for Mag Rack posting a 142% increase in average daily views. Plus, it brought many new viewers to Charter's VOD service, which should help keep revenue up and churn down.

"For us, the big challenge is creating awareness for our brand and for VOD," says Ronayne. "This was designed to drive awareness for Mag Rack and VOD. So it was perfectly suited for our brand as well as Charter's."

Charter and Mag Rack found that the sweepstakes campaign created a natural path to the on-demand platform. According to research conducted by both companies, once viewers sample VOD for the first time, they almost always come back.

"For us, it's all about trying to drive sampling," says Ronayne. "Once we can drive sampling, we seem to be able to generate a fairly loyal viewing base. The fact that we can get into markets of this importance, and stimulate them and convert that into sampling--[that's] great for us."

Mag Rack has rolled out similar sweepstakes with other cable operators, notably Insight. Mag Rack executives say the sweepstakes campaign with Charter was as successful for the network as its popular cross-promotion with hit movies (such as the upcoming Ray biopic that will be tied into Mag Rack's School of Music programming).

"Charter's was really a much more extensive and comprehensive campaign," Ronayne says. "For us, this was a good test case, when you take a broad-based marketing campaign with a number of different tactical elements, put them in the market at the same time and test the results."

In addition to the sweepstakes, Charter is relying on a simple "video store in your house" message to push VOD rather than talking about the service's technical features, like pause, fast-forward and rewind.

"We want the customer to understand that with on demand from cable, it's not just about pushing content to a DVR or being able to record a program and then watch it on demand later," Hedges says. "It's about being able to access thousands of hours of content at any time that you didn't necessarily stop and think to record."

So far, HBO On Demand has proven to be the most popular offering on Charter's VOD platform, by far. But Charter isn't able to quantify that with hard numbers yet.

"One of the challenges of the on-demand platform, at least at Charter, is mining [VOD] data in terms of understanding the behavior of our customers," says Robert Ladd, Charter's corporate marketing director.

[Copyright 2005 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]