Slashdot Mirror
Was the New Dr. Who Leaked on Purpose?
Static-MT writes "The pilot episode of the BBC's highly anticipated new Doctor Who series may have been intentionally leaked onto file-sharing networks to generate buzz, a source who instructed the network on viral advertising told Wired News."
Well if its legal, meaning, the owners of the video purposely used this as advertisting, then who cares? Its a good idea if you ask me. Should be 'Distributed' via file sharing networks, not leaked :)
Sigs are for Terrorists.
Downloaded it, watched it, and felt that they had captured enough of the original that I want more. I hope that the Beeb does the right thing for those of us across the pond (USA).
It was the best looking AVI I've ever seen. All the credits were there and all the introduction with no slight cut-off near the end. It was leaked.
I dont know if the leaking was intentional or not, but if the show is any good it will probably help the ratings. Battlestar Galactica came out first in the UK, and probably became the single most Bittorrented tv show before it aired in the US, to excelent ratings. The creator of BSG asked fans *not* to download the show, because he feared people who downloaded it wouldnt bother to watch it on TV. What really happened is, the show is excelent, and the buzz generated by all the early viewing probably helped the ratings a lot. In Brazil BSG started airing this month, and a lot of people who wouldnt otherwise even know it existed are tuning in to a semi-obscure cable channel because of early viewing.
Of course, if a show is crap P2P will probably hurt the ratings.
Considering that the BBC website had no less than three news articles about the leak, I can't say that I'm surprised to hear that the BBC "leaked" the episode themselves.
That's not what Viral Marketing is about. The BBC broadcasts to 50 million folk. A few million of those are interested in Dr Who, but only a few thousand of those would ever spend the time adn effort to download the pilot and watch it. Those folk enjoy it - like most the folk on /. and talk about it to their friends. Other folk read about the leak in the papers which makes it all a bit cool. They ask their geeky friends who assure them it's good and they tune in.
The tiny number that would be downlaoding the file in the UK is insignificant when you measure viewer ratings for the popular shows in the millions. Viral amrketting is about using a small number of people to boost those millions. So far, at least on /. it seems to be working.
I don't think so. I would suspect that the people who download the file would be avid promoters of it, and who would do much more for it than against it, and they would also probably actually watch it again on TV (cause nothing else is on anyway).
Anyway there are lots of people who would not be interested in downloading this show (think dialup users who were original show fans) but would like to hear from people who have. I think that it is brilliant guerilla marketing.
I tried to use "who" as many times as I could....
I can't think of any drama or comedy shows that had a very highly rated 1st episode, then a huge drop-off in the second.
Usually a large drop-off in ratings is caused by one of the following:
1. Cast changes (The Practice)
2. Genre Fatigue (Enterprise)
3. Timeslot follies (Futurama, Family Guy)
4. Jumping the Shark (Malcolm in the Middle, Will and Grace)
5. The thing everyone waited for happened (Cheers, Moonlighting, soon will happen to Lost and Desperate Hosuewives)
I would think that if the BBC wanted high ratings, the thing to do would be to get as many people as possible to see the 1st episode, then follow up with 2nd and 3rd episodes of extremely high quality. That seemed to work for Battlestar Galactica.
Having more and more people tune in each week is very desireable to TV programming people, much more so than a huge number of viewers initially due to curiosity, then a big fall-off because the show stinks and can't hold an audience.
...a source who instructed the network on viral advertising told Wired News."
Did anyone read this and think that this story itself was "viral advertising" for "the source who instructed the network"?
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suwain_2
1) This could be a very bad trend, if the MPAA and anti-piracy groups get their way. If the marketer doesn't do their due diligence and check with their law groups, then this "buzz" and viral marketing could get those who downloaded said video prosecuted for downloading something that was intentionally uploaded for marketing purposes. Downloading things such as fc3.x86.iso is safe because it's already known content. If i downloaded desperatehousewives.s1e21.avi, how would I know if this was a marketing release or not?
2) maybe pirate groups should create another meta tag for videos = screeners, telecines, marketing videos.
3) If it really was distributed on purpose, then there should have been a disclaimer, or some sort of "tag" at the end, a title page indicating that the full series would come up soon, with showtimes and the like. Otherwise, what's the point of the first episodes excepting to bring the viewers up to a point where they know the storyline will eventually be regardless?
4) The whole "quality of video" analysis doesn't sell me on the purposeful leak theory.
and get sued by the MPAA or whoever, could I say I had the permission of the copyright holder since they (or an agent working directly for them) put the material on the intenet to begin with?
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
If you make good media (music,movies,software,books,etc), most people will buy your stuff after they see that it's good. Since radio/tv do such a horrible job spreading good media these days, most of us look to alternative means, such as file sharing. I always "try before I buy" when it comes to new CD's for example... Continuing with that example, if you are making crappy music where only 1 or 2 songs are worth my time, I'm not gonna buy your crappy product. I know many of you have been burnt in the past from buying a CD because you liked a song or two you heard off of it, but hated the rest of the album. The same goes for all other forms of media too (*except maybe movies). Basically what I'm saying here is that "illegal" file sharing is a new radio/tv for a new generation and the only people who are going to be hurt by it are people making crappy products.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
I think it's a pretty fascinating story how people and media companies are using the internet to promote themselves in very sneaky ways.
* Movie sites like aintitcoolnews.com routinely get "reviews" from movie companies trying to promote their own works (case in point, the number of positive pre-screening reviews for Be Cool, a really awful film)
* Paris Hilton's sex video leaks to the internet. Ooops! It gives her career such a boost that a second one "accidentally" leaks.
* Music companies, the sworn enemies of P2P file sharing, recover a lot of marketing data by routinely monitoring P2P traffic as a gauge of market tastes and artist popularity.
* The Blair Witch Project was famously promoted by creating bogus info sites, detailing the "legend" of the Blair Witch.
* How many people promote their own websites or products by submitting a story to Slashdot that casually mentions their site in the writeup? Too many to count!
Most of those companies are hesitant to even release their client roster for fear of giving things like this away. I hope the BBC bitches them out for this.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
The one where he always has to rescue his female accomplice from certain doom every single episode?
You remind me of Macbeth, Act I, Scene III:
Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other devil's
name? Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
swear in both the scales against either scale;
who committed treason enough for God's sake,
yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come
in, equivocator.
Try watching BBC in the UK without paying your license. If you push it far enough, men with guns will show up and escort you to gaol.
Sounds like givernment to me.
668: Neighbour of the Beast
Rose: You would have failed miserably without me.
Doctor: Yes, I would have.
The episode was named, scripted, and structured specifically to introduce Rose as one of the "active" companions (like Ace), rather than the old Victoria-style screamers.
If it hadn't been for the gutsy Rose jumping onto the rope and doing a bit of gymnastics, Earth would've been absorbed into the Nestene consciousness and the plastic men would have continued their massacre.
"More trouble than she's worth." Ha!
I think Rose will turn out to be a great companion - inquisitive, quick learning, possibly just behind Leela in ballsiness.
Of course, Romana #2 (Lalla Ward) can never be challenged for sheer lovability in my eyes!
(If only I'd been an evolutionary biologist, she might have be interested in me when she dumped Tom. Oh, and if I'd been about 20 years older of course.)