LATEST NEWS: You know how I mentioned that I wouldn't be getting anymore HEROES work until the 4 part story arc was done? Well I contacted Frank (the Heroes editor at Aspen) and asked how things were going. Apparently my timing was perfect again. He told me that artist had just pulled out and he desperately needed an artist to step in for the last two parts of the Vietnam flashback story. Seriously, I don't know why he just doesn't ask me in the first place. =)

So, I get to find out who Dallas and Austin are. I guarantee you their identities won't be parting my lips... It's more than my job's worth.

NEW YORK NBC Universal and News Corp.'s new video site might significantly change the game in the network Web site battles, but until it debuts in the summer, ABC.com and NBC.com are trading blows in the race for top broadcast portal.

In February, ABC.com saw a sizable uptick in unique visitors to finish the month with nearly 9 million uniques, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. NBC.com, which was first by a considerable margin in January, had slightly more than 8 million visitors for the month. CBS.com and Fox.com had 5.6 million and 2.9 million February visitors, respectively.

Bruce Gersh, svp, business development at ABC Entertainment, and Alexis Rapo, vp digital media at ABC, said that streaming episodes of Grey's Anatomy, which had a three-episode story line during the month, and Web features including a personality quiz around the primetime drama were the largest drivers to the site. Lost, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty also were popular on ABC.com.

Vivi Zigler, evp, digital entertainment at NBC, said that the network site's 13 percent drop-off from January was just a "natural fluctuation" and remains encouraged by her company's digital strategy. NBC said Thursday that it will be adding social networking capabilities to its site and will considerably expand features around Heroes, which is the biggest driver of traffic to the site. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock also performed strongly on the portal during the month.

A representative for CBS pointed out that it has deals with "dozens of partners," including iTunes and Amazon.com, to distribute online content outside of CBS.com. Jericho and Showtime's Weeds performed well online for the network during February, the rep said.

Fox declined comment on the findings.

NEW YORK -- NBC is testing hearts and minds in its quest to track the habits of today's elusive media consumer.

The network last week received the results of its first dip into the world of neurophysiology -- examining brain waves, galvanic skin response and eye movement of TV viewers. NBC used an episode of "Heroes" to find out what viewers comprehend of ads when they fast-forward past them on DVRs.

NBC Uni research chief Alan Wurtzel said that the preliminary findings, which the network and research company are still sifting through, confirm previous research from multiple sources including Nielsen Media Research and Millward Brown that said viewers remain involved even though they're fast-forwarding.

"There is some engagement, some comprehension going on," Wurtzel said. "It's not as though they are a blank slate."

Testing was conducted on 20-25 volunteers by Innerscope Research, a Massachusetts-based firm co-founded by Carl Marci of Harvard Medical School. Innerscope uses a biomonitoring system of wearable but unobtrusive sensors -- Wurtzel called them a sort of jacket -- that measure brain activity. Galvanic skin response is the change in the skin's electrical field in response to an emotion.
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It's a leap forward from the traditional testing, which asked questions of viewers about what they had seen and what they remembered. It won't, however, replace any of the other measures -- like Nielsen Media Research metrics and the other ways network researchers test shows and advertising.

"We felt that we need to go out and understand consumer behavior in as many ways as possible," Wurtzel said.

Wurtzel declined to go into further detail but said the neurophysiological responses between viewers who watched "Heroes" in normal playback speed and also fast-forwarding was in some cases not much different.

Details of the test and other new NBC research initiatives will be unveiled today at the network's annual development meeting in Burbank. It was mentioned briefly by Beth Comstock, NBC Universal's president of integrated media, during Tuesday's TV ad forum sponsored by the Association of National Advertisers in New York.

NBC's research department also is working to create a way to aggregate audiences to get a sense of how NBC Universal's multiple platforms are performing on broadcast, cable, broadband, VOD and mobile wireless. NBC Uni has dubbed it TAMi, for total audience measurement interactive.

"It's not a metric for currency," Wurtzel said. "It's a way to try to get a sense of this 360-degree performance, because this is really what the future is about."

NBC rebooting Web plans, media player
Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:02AM EDT
By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC is taking its "TV 360" approach for another spin.

The network will announce a broad set of bold changes to its Internet strategy during its annual program development presentation to advertisers Thursday.

NBC.com will become the first broadcast Web site to adopt social-networking tools similar to those on MySpace, including the ability to embed NBC video clips outside the site.

In addition, the network is fine-tuning its media player, NBC Rewind, and revealing new online content to accompany its summer series, including a continuation of its multiplatform expansion of the hit "HEROES" even after the freshman season ends in May...

..."The whole goal then was to put television online," Gaspin said. "Now we want to make television its own unique experience online."

Beginning as early as June, NBC.com will allow users to embed video on their own sites, create profile pages to which they can upload videos of their own, launch fan groups and receive viewing recommendation from like-minded users.

The social-networking tools will be available only via registration, a key selling point to advertisers looking for users' demographic and behavioral-targeting data.

In keeping with NBC.com's social orientation, even the video player will now incorporate a chat function that allows fellow viewers to communicate together as they watch. The player, which still will be known as NBC Rewind, also will be redesigned to exhibit video in a larger format and a new window that will stream text commentary pertaining to the video being viewed.

NBC also is expanding its "HEROES 360" experience, which was introduced midseason to expand the presence of the hit rookie series. After "HEROES" finishes its run in May, a graphic novel that plays off its story lines will continue, and a new video series that goes behind the scenes of the "HEROES" production will be introduced.

The expansion is being fueled by the healthy reception "HEROES 360" has gotten since coming to the Internet and mobile in late January. NBC is set to report that "HEROES 360" has generated 7 million unique visitors and 27 million video streams....

NBC.COM DELIVERS WITH 'HEROES360' – 48 MILLION PAGE VIEWS AND OVER 27 MILLION VIDEO STREAMS IN JUST EIGHT WEEKS

First Scripted TV360 Application Drives Strong Site Traffic Among Web, Mobile Platforms

Burbank, Calif. – March 22, 2007 – NBC.com today announced the results of its "HEROES360" experience – the first TV360 to be applied to a scripted series. The "HEROES" site, which includes message boards, synched cast commentaries, a two-screen application with pop-ups and an interactive novel, had over 48 million page views, seven million uniques and delivered over 27 million video streams, over 20 million of which were in NBC Rewind, the full episode video player. The announcement was made by Vivi Zigler, Executive Vice President NBC Digital Entertainment and New Media.

"'HEROES' gives us such rich content to work with, and the show's fans are so curious and smart - it creates the perfect opportunity for us to create a full 360 digital entertainment experience," said Zigler. "Allowing the audience to 'peel back the onion' and interact with the show on a much deeper level is what TV360 is all about."

"HEROES360" launched on January 22nd on a number of platforms including online and mobile and continue to roll out and evolve. The full breadth of the campaign includes a number of non-NBC branded websites including www.primatechpaper.com, www.corinthianlasvegas.com, www.9thwonders.com and www.samantha48616e61.com, several WAP sites including one for "HEROES" and one for Primatech Paper, SMS interactivity and an interactive phone tree (1-800-PRIMA16).

Since launch, the "HEROES" WAP site has seen over 200,000 page views, followed by the Primatech Paper WAP site with over 150,000 page views.

The campaign continues to show growth as well - for the week of March 5th, the most recent original network broadcast, "HEROES" full episode streams were up +29% versus the previous week to their highest levels since launch on January 22nd. Unique visitors to the full episodes were up +8% versus the previous week, also hitting their highest levels since launch…

A pair of artists have filed suit against NBC, claiming that the idea for Heroes' Isaac Mendez and his ominous artwork was cribbed from a short story, a painting and a short-film exhibition of theirs, Reuters reports. According to the lawsuit filed by New York City-based artists Clifton Mallery and Amnau Karam Eele, two individuals who identified themselves as writers from Crossing Jordan — Heroes creator Tim Kring's previous stomping grounds — spied their work at an April 2005 exhibition at Hunter College, and left with some samples. The plaintiffs' work concerns an artist who can paint the future, specifically the destruction of New York City landmarks — a theme that they call "strikingly similar" to Heroes' plotline.

Calling the suit without merit, an NBC rep says they will defend against it vigorously. A source close to Isaac Mendez, meanwhile, speaking on the condition of anonymity, calls the plaintiff's lawyer "very bad man," adding, "Mister Eee-sock steal nothing."