In Demand L.L.C. is moving its affiliates toward a paperless world.
The cable-industry pay-per-view purveyor has bowed a new affiliate Web site
aimed at making it the network's principal forum to provide MSO executives and
vendors with updated information and materials.
The site rebuild, announced by vice president and executive creative director
Stacie Cowan Gray, comes after a major evaluation by the network to determine
the most efficient and effective way to deliver monthly programming and
affiliate information as a means to improve marketing support and to boost
buy-rates.
With In Demand's palette of programming expanding, the number of movie start
times increasing and the emergence of video-on-demand, the company -- which is
also facing a more competitive landscape from the direct-broadcast satellite
industry -- felt that the electronic dissemination of this information would be
superior to the monthly mailed kits it had previously used.
Indeed, due to tight print deadlines and slow mail delivery, the timeliness
of the bulky print kits was often impacted, or they excluded key data and
materials.
'We determined that indemand.com
was the most efficient way for us to deliver the huge volume of programming,
marketing and promotional materials that we create for our customers in a timely
manner,' Gray said in a prepared statement. 'The affiliate portal will now
become our primary information and resource interface with systems, MSOs and
vendors.'
The password-protected portal -- featuring schedules, programming, video
promotion, operational info and such marketing materials as downloadable
artwork, ad slicks, radio spots and promotional copy -- can be accessed by
authorized affiliates and vendors by clicking on the affiliate icon located on
the navigation bar of indemand.com.
In Demand began notifying affiliates of its pending paperless position push
in October, and this past week, it sent cyber guide CD-ROM demonstrations to
introduce them to the new site. New passwords have also been sent
out.
