Showtime goes Online to Promote 'Fat Actress' and 'The L Word'

Showtime announced two new online partnerships today. In the first deal, Showtime is teaming up with iVillage, a women's portal geared at the 18-54 bracket, to promote the series 'The L Word'. Promo centers around an iPod-a-day giveaway (didn't the losing team on the apprentice just try that?)

The second promo is the "Big Fat Job Sweepstakes" with job portal Monster.com. The contest will promote the new Kirstie Alley series 'Fat Actress', and one grand prize winner will get a walk-on-role plus $10,000 in cash.

According to Len Fogge, Showtime Networks Executive Vice President of Marketing & Creative,

"It's a crowded marketplace and it's become increasingly important for us to extend our reach via non-traditional outlets, and online relationships have become a critical component of our marketing strategy. By linking up with such sites as iVillage.com and Monster, we are able to generate huge buzz for our series while targeting them to the people we believe will be most interested in watching them."

Perhaps we're just a bit biased, but is the web still considered "non-traditional" in 2005? At any rate, iVillage has a monthly audience of around 5.9 million per month, and Monster reels in a whopping 15.6 million -- good numbers of highly targeted consumers. And while the iPod giveaway is pretty small potatoes, the interface and scratch game are quite well executed.

SHOWTIME Strikes Deals With Popular Online Sites to Promote Network's Signature Series