Ypulse Interview: Vickie Collier, Vice President, Digital Media, Disney-ABC Television Group
Posted by meredith on 04-08-2009
Today’s Ypulse interview is with Vickie Collier, a key strategist behind ABC Family’s impressive evolution into one of the top-rated networks among teens and college students. To hear the details of what Vickie learned from marketing the hit series “Greek” catch her presentation at the Campus Case Study Slam at the Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup Event in June. Register today and take advantage of our Early Adopter Rates!
Ypulse: What would you say was the general strategy behind the evolution of ABC Family.com?
Vickie Collier: ABCFamily.com works to bring our network’s tagline “a new kind of family” to life digitally by delivering experiences that are shaped and driven by our community. My team looks to embrace our target audience’s desire to share their stories and participate in ours, and be social online. We want to deepen the relationship our audience has with our brand and develop new ones with other fans. We genuinely want our site to be powered by what young people love, and want to make their contributions matter.
YP: How have shows like “Greek” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” played a role in that?
VC: Absolutely, “Greek” and “Secret Life” are two successful shows that really epitomize the ABC Family brand. They are relatable storytelling for Millennials about today’s relationships filled with optimism, humor, and heart. The shows gave us great content to tie into digitally, and of course, a much bigger, more passionate audience than we’d previously seen online. That passion translated into an active community of fans and some innovative digital experiences.
YP: Could you describe some of ABC Family’s digital initiatives that were directed towards college students?
VC: ABC Family programming is directed at Millennials 14-28. Our core audience is a high school or college female. It is easy to see why shows like “Secret Life” and “Greek” hit the sweet spot of our brand. If you are looking at digital activity for college students, our core effort focused solely on college students was Virtual Rush. Virtual Rush launched in Spring 2007 and ran through Fall 2008. It was a social networking site tied to the launch of “Greek,” and it ran 3 seasons. Young adults eighteen and up were able to create profiles and compete in challenges each week to win a walk on role. We’ve had many other efforts focused on a broad target audience, but Virtual Rush was the only effort focused solely on college students.
YP: What are some of the recurring trends you’ve seen in millennial viewing habits?
VC: We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of video streams we serve digitally, both long and short form. This has really translated to increased media consumption across the board. Young adults make time to watch shows they love, they come online, watch them again, chat about them, and engage in content related to the show. We’ve seen this most directly with Secret Life of them American Teenager. ABC Family saw its strongest ratings ever, digitally, we streamed more content than ever, and our message boards, blogs and advice columns were constantly active with meaningful dialogue about the show and, most importantly, teens relating real world experiences that paralleled the show.
YP: What can attendees expect to take away from your case study on “Greek”?
VC: Heh. If I don’t get too carried away, I’d like to take them through the full life cycle of our digital efforts for Greek. Starting with Virtual Rush and ending with more broad accessible content like Mixtapes, Blogs and Viewing Parties.
Sorta Related:
ABC Family’s summer plans
More on Vickie
Vickie Collier is responsible for the strategic direction, production and operations of ABC Family Digital as well as the development of direct-to-digital programming. Under her leadership, ABCFamily.com won its first Emmy in 2007 for creative achievement in interactive media and was an Emmy finalist in 2008. Vickie led the evolution of ABCFamily.com from a marketing support site to an ad supported, fan driven entertainment site that offers consumers the ability to participate and have fun. ABCFamily.com encourages discovery and sharing, while offering content for passionate fans including video, behind-the-scenes, innovative storytelling and music.
Categorized under: 2009 Mashup, TV