Troll
04-19-2006, 2:29pm
Retail sales key to "Hee Haw" DVD success
Staff and agencies
24 March, 2006
By Brian Garrity 4 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Billboard) - "Hee Haw" was Time Life‘s best-selling DVD collection of 2005 -- and that ain‘t hay.
Time Life says it has sold more than 1 million units of the multi-title series since it began marketing it via infomercials and TV ads in November 2003.
The company has spent more than $5 million promoting it over the last 28 months.
Time Life is no stranger to pushing sales of music and video series into the millions. But "Hee Haw" -- the Gaylord Entertainment-controlled country music variety show, which ran on TV from 1969 to 1992 -- is an anomaly in the DVD business.
John Esposito, president/CEO of WEA, Time Life‘s retail distributor, says that while blockbuster feature films often achieve this level of sales, it is rare for a TV-on-DVD product to show such strength.
Also notable in the case of "Hee Haw" is where and how the company makes the sales. Time Life executives say consumers purchased almost half the "Hee Haw" titles in stores like Wal-Mart and Target rather than over the phone, as is typically the case with many direct-response campaigns.
In fact, Time Life executives report the success of "Hee Haw" validates an expanding strategy to supplement direct-response sales with traditional retail distribution.
Time Life has sold select CD titles to merchants since the late 1990s, but it is just starting to acquire retail-distribution rights for DVD product. The company aims to increase retail presence of all product categories across the board.
Risk diversification is central to the new strategy. Retail sales can add legs to a direct-response campaign. Such sales can also offset the TV advertising expenses Time Life incurs promoting more modest-selling collections. Time Life, which claims $300 million in annual revenue, spends more than $70 million a year on TV advertising in the United States alone.
"We don‘t want to be at the mercy of just licensing narrow direct-response rights," says Jeff Peisch, head of Time Life‘s video division. "In cases where we can acquire all rights, retail included, that‘s what we want to do."
Reuters/Billboard
http://www.newsone.ca/hinesbergjournal/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=164133
Staff and agencies
24 March, 2006
By Brian Garrity 4 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Billboard) - "Hee Haw" was Time Life‘s best-selling DVD collection of 2005 -- and that ain‘t hay.
Time Life says it has sold more than 1 million units of the multi-title series since it began marketing it via infomercials and TV ads in November 2003.
The company has spent more than $5 million promoting it over the last 28 months.
Time Life is no stranger to pushing sales of music and video series into the millions. But "Hee Haw" -- the Gaylord Entertainment-controlled country music variety show, which ran on TV from 1969 to 1992 -- is an anomaly in the DVD business.
John Esposito, president/CEO of WEA, Time Life‘s retail distributor, says that while blockbuster feature films often achieve this level of sales, it is rare for a TV-on-DVD product to show such strength.
Also notable in the case of "Hee Haw" is where and how the company makes the sales. Time Life executives say consumers purchased almost half the "Hee Haw" titles in stores like Wal-Mart and Target rather than over the phone, as is typically the case with many direct-response campaigns.
In fact, Time Life executives report the success of "Hee Haw" validates an expanding strategy to supplement direct-response sales with traditional retail distribution.
Time Life has sold select CD titles to merchants since the late 1990s, but it is just starting to acquire retail-distribution rights for DVD product. The company aims to increase retail presence of all product categories across the board.
Risk diversification is central to the new strategy. Retail sales can add legs to a direct-response campaign. Such sales can also offset the TV advertising expenses Time Life incurs promoting more modest-selling collections. Time Life, which claims $300 million in annual revenue, spends more than $70 million a year on TV advertising in the United States alone.
"We don‘t want to be at the mercy of just licensing narrow direct-response rights," says Jeff Peisch, head of Time Life‘s video division. "In cases where we can acquire all rights, retail included, that‘s what we want to do."
Reuters/Billboard
http://www.newsone.ca/hinesbergjournal/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=164133