CW network will be previewing its upcoming series “Life Unexpected” on Facebook, according to Broadcasting & Cable. The preview will be streamed on the Facebook fanpage of CW network, which currently has around 70,000 fans. The 10 minute preview will stream on Jan. 11, exactly one week before the series premiere would be aired on Cable TV.
The fan page is currently mute about this preview, and the only information available to us is via bloggers who have started to chit chat about it. Life Unexpected has already generated some buzz, as the pilot was applauded by critics and fans. CW is now trying to bank on this initial buzz and is aggressively marketing the upcoming series through its own site, in addition to leveraging the power of social media.
The series already has a landing page, that will show case video clips and other information about the series. In order to seed user interactions, CW is also planning to allow fans to post comments for the first 24 hours following the preview of “Life Unexpected”.
Networks are now increasingly turning to Facebook to attract fans by offering exclusive content or by running giveaway campaigns. NBC recently launched a Facebook based game “Mission: Chuck Me Out” to promote the return of Chuck, an action-comedy TV series aired on NBC. Fans get to promote Chuck by talking and sharing content of the series in return for points. The winner of the game, gets to have an air time on Chuck in one of Chuck’s imaginations.
Universal has also launched a campaign on facebook to aggressively promote their Blu-ray movies. During the campaign 25 prize packages containing four movies each, would be given to Universal fans on Facebook each day.
It seems that within a short amount of time, the decision to have a Facebook promotional campaign before the launch of a series would be a no-brainer for marketing execs. at the Networks.
