Catch A Viral From TV

Virals used to be spread solely through e-mail and word of mouth, but now there are many other outlets that spread the viral love. These include YouTube, Google Video, Viral Chart, and now, television.

Bravo has a new show called "Outrageous and Contagious Viral Videos." The show airs Mondays at 10/9C and features all sorts of virals including ads and spoofs of ads. I've only seen two or three real ads on the show, perhaps because companies have been hesitant to release them. For example, NBC pulled SNL clips from YouTube because they only wanted the videos distributed from their own Web site. Many bloggers jumped all over NBC, and rightfully so, because they halted the free publicity YouTube provided. In a world where advertisers strive to create content, instead of traditional ads, any free publicity or syndication should be welcomed.

The creation of this TV show indicates that advertisers are creating content people actually want to watch, even is no one will admit it. Hats off to everyone out there making cheeky virals, hopefully I'll see your work on TV soon.