Hitviews Tapped by FOX to Market ‘Fringe’ and ‘Lie to Me’

Hitviews “webstars” help FOX Broadcasting Company reach millions of online-video viewers, demonstrating the power of branded entertainment online.

NEW YORK, June 11 /PRNewswire/ — Hitviews, the leading entertainment marketplace of online-video stars, was selected by FOX Broadcasting Company to help introduce two of its new primetime series, “Fringe” and “Lie to Me,” during the 2008-09 broadcast season. As part of FOX’s broader marketing and promotional efforts to launch the shows, Hitviews’ online video marketing campaigns for “Fringe” and “Lie to Me” generated well over 4,600,000 video views and significant online buzz. Hitviews’ WebStars represent many of the most-watched online-video stars. Hitviews’ top dozen stars have a collective fan base of more than 2.6 million fans with more than 775 million video views.

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Hitviews worked with FOX to select influential online-video stars with large audiences aligned to the target of the two television shows. The companies partnered with online-video stars including Michael Buckley (whatthebuckshow), Phil DeFranco (sxephil), Caitlin Hill (thehill88), Charles Trippy, and Kevin Nalty (Nalts) to integrate “Fringe” and “Lie to Me” related topics organically into their shows. For instance, Nalty created satires of “Fringe” that were seen hundreds of thousands of times, and were posted widely on “Fringe” fan sites and blogs. One such video featured his children (ages 4-10) playing the roles of “Fringe” characters. Another video demystified the cast via irreverent interviews with the show’s stars, including Joshua Jackson and Lance Reddick.

“When it was time to promote key programming FOX didn’t leave it to chance. Instead, they had the vision to take command of online marketing and make it work, seamlessly weaving their messages into online shows with powerful audiences,” said Walter Sabo, founder and CEO Hitviews. “Brands that want results will do what FOX did and put their message inside Hitviews’ stars entertaining videos or risk not being seen at all.”

In addition to well over 4,600,000 views, the 32 videos produced for the campaign yielded more than 80,000 online comments from fans who indicated overwhelming intent to watch the shows. Consistent with the intended demographic target, the videos were watched by an audience with an average age of 25, 60 percent of which were male.

“Our stars are selective about which brands they represent because they need to maintain credibility with their audiences,” said Caitlin Hill, Chief Creative Officer. “Every star was thrilled to promote ‘Lie to Me’ and ‘Fringe.’ In fact we all became so absorbed in the shows that we couldn’t help referencing them on our blogs, vlogs, discussion boards, and other media.”

For more information on the FOX campaign and to watch the videos please visit www.hitviews.com/case_studies_fox.html.

About Hitviews

Founded in 2007, Hitviews is the leading entertainment marketplace of online-video stars. Hitviews provides innovative brands a platform to promote their messages, taking them inside videos created by the Web’s most watched stars with creativity and authenticity. Hitviews introduces brands to established, engaged and targeted audiences from across the United States and beyond. With a network of dozens of WebStars, the top dozen of which boast more than 775 million views to date, Hitviews is revolutionizing the way brands use online video.

Hitviews investors include multimedia visionary Gary Slaight, Chairman-CEO of Slaight Communications and Bob Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax and The Weinstein Brothers. The company is based in New York City. www.hitviews.com

SOURCE Hitviews