Discovery Channel will use its recently inked sponsorships of the Big East and Pac-10 conferences to promote "Colosseum: A Gladiator's Story," a one-hour special about the life of Verus, a slave who was enlisted to help build the Colosseum and then chosen to fight in the institution he built.
Partnering with the Big East and Pac-10 to help promote the program "made perfect sense," said Julie Willis, Discovery Channel's senior vice president of marketing.
Willis said the conference sponsorships allow Discovery to reach fans of college sports, particularly college basketball, who also fit the channel's targeted 18-34 demographic. Discovery Channel's audience is 60 percent male. In the past month, its prime-time rating among male viewers ages 18 to 34 increased 43 percent over last year's period, thanks to shows such as "Monster Garage" and "American Chopper."
Discovery has one-year agreements with the conferences.
The March 14 air date for "Colosseum" also allows Discovery to heavily promote the program during the Big East and Pac-10 men's basketball tournaments. The Big East tournament will be played at Madison Square Garden March 10-13, while the Pac-10's tourney is scheduled for March 11-13 at Staples Center.
"New York and Los Angeles are huge markets for us, and we wanted to hit both coasts," Willis said.
Promotion during the two tournaments will include banners and program ads touting the show as well as courtside rotational signs, public announcements and video board mentions. Discovery plans to air a sneak peek of the program during halftime of select tournament games.
The network also plans to run a prize promotion in which fans at some point during the tournament will be directed to find the Discovery/"Colosseum" ad in their game programs. Fans holding programs with a celebrity signature will receive a Discovery prize package. The number of prizes, the prize and the celebrity signature had not been determined as of press time.
Big East marketing agency Nelligan Sports Marketing initiated discussions with Discovery and eventually brought the Discovery partnership to the Pac-10's marketing arm, Pac-10 Properties, which is a joint venture between the Pac-10 and its television partner, Fox Sports Net. PhD Media, a subsidiary of Omnicom, helped Discovery on the agreement.
"Colosseum" kicks off Discovery Channel's "Bloody Rome Week," a week's worth of prime-time specials about ancient Romans. "Bloody Rome Week" will be hosted by NFL hall of famer and Fox commentator Howie Long.
