NBC To Launch Online Music Competition Show With Tommy Mottola

So NBC decided to come out fighting: it has tied up with Tommy Mottola and the producers of “The Biggest Loser” for a music competition show, a bit like American Idol. The show, called “StarTomorrow” will be on NBC.com.

Till now, Internet companies like Yahoo and AOL have been working on reality/online shows and this is a new step for networks. For this NBC show, pre-production is already under way, with the expected launch this summer. Winner will be signed to Mottola’s Casablanca label, a division of the Universal Music Group.

Jeff Gaspin — president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment & Cross-Platform
Strategy– estimates the show will cost NBC about 20% of what a similar series on TV might run. The show will have product placements as way to generate revenues, though no deal has been announced yet.

Couple of questions from my side: NBC.com is not even that big of a destination site, so how do they plan to bring people in? I know what they’ll say: TV cross-promo…that might be a tough one, and a very ineffective way to bring in the audiences in mass numbers. Also, has anyone (Yahoo, AOL and now NBC) done any kind of research on whether these online reality/competition type shows have any appeal among viewers? I would like to see some numbers, or some case studies on previous efforts from other smaller/indie players.

Comments have been disabled for this post