CA-based ISP NetZero's "high-profile sponsorship" of
the "NBA on NBC" halftime report was profiled by Greg
Johnson of the L.A. TIMES, under the header, "NetZero Scores
With Halftime Strategy." While NetZero "won't say how much
it spent" on the NBC deal, SEC filings "suggest" that the
company "will pour" $25-50M into marketing and advertising
"during the year ending" June 30. NetZero CMO Brian Woods,
on the NBC partnership and the NBA Finals featuring the
Lakers: "We're very happy with what we ended up with. We've
got the hometown team in there, and the demographics of the
NBA -- which skew young and male -- are exactly what we're
looking for." Woods said that when NetZero's halftime show
sponsorship debuted on Christmas Day and the company offered
free CDs needed to access its service, "We ended up shutting
down the telephone switchboard in Canada, where traffic was
directed. That was fixed the next day, but it's the kind of
problem you want to have." But Johnson wrote whether the
deal will "help NetZero survive in the competitive ISP world
is uncertain," as the company "isn't the only [one] spending
heavily to market" free Internet access (L.A. TIMES, 6/12).
