THE APPRENTICE IS NO NOVICE AT
DRIVING SPONSOR'S WEB SITE TRAFFIC
Dove Body Wash Most Successful Effort at Driving Brand Web Site Traffic
NEW YORK, April 25, 2005- With an increasing number of consumers skipping commercials due to the popularity of TiVo and other digital video recorders, the reality-television revolution has provided marketers with a critical new-generation of product placement. In its third season, NBC's "The Apprentice" is an innovator in combining in-show placement with Internet calls to action. But just how sophisticated and successful is "The Apprentice" and its product placement in driving traffic to brand Web sites? The answer lies in a bottle of soap.
Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, analyzed traffic to the brand Web sites of sponsors of "The Apprentice" for the current season. The most successful episode thus far has been number four, which aired on Feb. 10, 2005, featuring Dove Body Wash. The market share of Internet visits to Dove.com increased 1,512 percent the week ending Feb. 12, 2005 versus the prior week (ending Feb. 5, 2005).
During episode four, two teams competed to create an advertisement launching the new Dove Cool Moisture Body Wash. Yahoo!, which hosts an Apprentice Web site (apprentice.tv.yahoo.com) featured a link to Dove.com, resulting in a 50 percent contribution of all visits to the site on Feb. 11, 2005. Interestingly, the two teams failed their test to create an acceptable commercial and this news was featured on MSNBC.com. On Feb. 11, 2005, 15 percent of visits to Dove.com originated at MSNBC.com.
Traffic to Dove.com from search engines also increased during the week of the show; the level of Internet searches on the term 'dove' increased 1,062 percent for the week ending Feb. 12, 2005 versus the prior week.
"The Apprentice advertisers have created the next generation of product placement," said Bill Tancer, vice president of research at Hitwise. "As reality TV product placement increases, advertisers should leverage the interactivity of the Web by employing this new type of cross-media advertising and promotion."
The Apprentice's Online Boost to Pontiac
Episode 12 of "The Apprentice" was also successful at increasing site traffic to its sponsor's brand Web site. The episode aired on April 14, 2005, and the two teams competed to create a brochure for the new Pontiac Solstice. The Yahoo! Apprentice Web site featured a link to Pontiac.com where users could pre-order the vehicle, contributing to a 180 percent increase in visits the week ending April 16, 2005 versus the prior week (ending April 9, 2005). More than half (52 percent) of visits to Pontiac.com originated at Yahoo! that week. In addition, the share of searches for the terms "pontiac solstice" and "pontiac" increased by 190 and 369 percent respectively, for the week ending April 16, 2005 versus the prior week (ending April 9, 2005).
Select Advertisers Featured on "The Apprentice"
Episode
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Change in Market Share of Visits, Week Ending Airdate vs. Prior Week
Contact: For media inquiries or to schedule an analyst interview, please contact Lizzie Babarczy: press@hitwise.com (212) 380-2910
About Hitwise:
Hitwise is the world's leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.
By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites. Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as search marketing, affiliate programs, online advertising, visitor segmentation, content development and lead generation.
Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com
