http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48091Sony, L'Oreal and Toyota Join Current TV in Consumer-Created Ad Experiment
March 02, 2006
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By Abbey Klaassen
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- What if ordinary TV viewers went from watching commercials to creating them? We’re about to find out.
Sony Electronics, Toyota Motor Sales USA and L’Oreal Paris have cut deals with Al Gore’s Current TV that will usher the beleaguered 30-second spot into the age of consumer-generated content and send shivers down the spines of agency creatives. The marketers will enlist the network’s viewers to produce commercials and will pay to air the best of those spots.
An online phenomenon
User-generated content is all the rage on the Internet -- YouTube.com attracted 4.9 million unique visitors in January and reports 20,000 video uploads a day -- and Current is exporting the phenomenon to TV.
The youth-oriented network, launched last summer with the backing of former Vice President Gore, aims to “democratize” TV by letting viewers create programming. At launch, it aimed for 5% to 10% of its content to be created by viewers, but the actual amount is closer to 30%.