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| Stations | Viewer Makeovers Lure Advertisers
In an era when local broadcasters feel financially squeezed from nearly every direction, an Oklahoma City station has turned to an old-fashioned programming strategy to make some new-style money.
Hearst-Argyle-owned ABC affiliate KOCO-TV generated more than $100,000 in profit from its recent locally produced special "Oklahoma's Ultimate Makeover," in which women underwent plastic surgery to achieve a new look. The station brought several new advertisers on board for the program.
Many of those advertisers-Lasik doctors, plastic surgeons and cosmetic dentists-don't typically buy on-air spots. The show was a chance to lure them to the station and generate so-called "nontraditional revenue," said Dominique Homsey Gross, sales marketing manager for the station.
"This is one of the most aggressive approaches to nontraditional revenue," she said. "The sponsors that did all of the work [on the women] pay to be part of the show." Local area sponsors included Oklahoma University Medical Center, Smile Solutions and TLC Lasik Eye Centers. Other sponsors included a local hair salon, a spa and a body toning center.
Local broadcasting has its roots in local programming, while brand integration is a recent advertising phenomenon.
The story of two Oklahoma women who went under the knife to have their faces, eyes, eyebrows, noses, lips, breasts and cheeks redone was the highest-rated locally produced entertainment program in Oklahoma City history, said Matt...