To promote TV shows, NBC turns to Hulu
What's the best way to get people who don't watch TV to start watching it? For starters, advertising TV shows somewhere other than on TV. Give NBC this much credit: The network, which has seen better days in the ratings, hopes to attract viewers by releasing fall season premieres on Hulu a week ahead of their television air date.Networks have been experimenting with early releases online for some time now as a way to counteract modern viewing habits such as skipping past all the network promos with a TiVo. But just a couple of weeks ago, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker was telling us all that by not airing Olympic events live or letting viewers watch them online, the network was creating "excitement" via "word of mouth" by withholding the opening ceremonies. Then again, the opening ceremonies in Beijing were actually interesting. The third-place network is correctly guessing that there's no way anybody is going to be eagerly anticipating the new season of Knight Rider — which is going to need all the help it can get.