7:20pm EDT, Thu Sep 2

Alamo Heights Offers Tex-Mex Cybernovela

By: The Online Reporter
Publish Date: December 02, 2006

Complete articles are posted three weeks after they have been sent to subscribers. To request a copy of the current edition, e-mail paperboy@riderresearch.com .

Alamo Heights SA Holdings, a company created by zyntroPICS, El Mundo Entertainment and private Texas investment groups, is bringing the industry's first royalty-free, cross-cultural Tex-Mex cybernovela to the Internet and mobile phones. Cleverly titled Alamo Heights (www.alamoheightssa.com), the "melodramedy" is part soap opera, part novella and part paid cable drama that follows the lives of two families, one in San Antonio and one in Monterrey, Mexico, and their lingerie business. The multiplatform cybernovela has a unique business model as well - it uses so-called disruptive product placement/brand integration technology. "Even though Internet TV has become a multibillion dollar business with Google's purchase of YouTube, it is still all about shaping compelling content and building a viable business model," said Alamo Heights producer Eric Weymueller. "We are the first to do both. We've developed 40 four-act episodes with durations of seven-nine minutes each for a budget of just over $1 million. The program has proven to be very appealing to the 18-30 demographic and to female viewers in particular." Complete episodes, in English and Spanish, are available on broadcast TV through LatinAmerica Broadcasting (LAT TV); over ad- supported Internet networks including Brightcove, Guba, Veoh and Kiptronic and on www.alamoheights- SA.com. Supplemental marketing content is available on viral video sites including YouTube, Revver, Grouper, MySpace and Vimeo. The first 12 episodes will be released between November 20-December 20 and feature a tie-in with the fictitious line of lingerie featured in the series and a real online store. "Advertisers love the business model and are anxious to take advantage of this new and less expensive channel to their target markets," said Weymueller. "We will use viral marketing as well as more traditional methods. Some of our actors have fan bases as large as 24,000 on MySpace. All will get a copy of the show and they will pass it along to their friends. We make it easy for people to get the show where and when they want it, unlike traditional networks, who lock their content behind DRM-restricted portals." As for the mobile aspect, according to Weymueller, "Eventually, we will include supplemental content so that subscribers will receive text message alerts to listen on their cell phones to phone conversations between characters and access behind-the-scenes photos on their wireless devices." Additional community aspects of Alamo Heights include viewers being invited to enact their own scenes on alamoheightsSA's "Your Show" page, character video blogs, cast and crew interviews and other behind-the-scenes goodies. Viewers can also visit lingeriemodelconfessions.com, which is the Web site of one of the show's lead characters.