Sunday Times unveils Sky-sponsored The Month on DVD

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 16-Mar-05, 11:00

LONDON – The Sunday Times has packed three-and-a-half hours of entertainment into 'The Month', which relaunches as a DVD this Sunday and is sponsored by Sky.

Content includes live music performances, a whole comedy episode, playable computer game demos, a 30-minute magazine programme, and film previews. More content can be fitted on to the disc because of the move to a DVD from the previous CD-rom format, a move brought about by the greater penetration of DVD players among readers.

Advertisers are currently being offered solus sponsorship deals including on-disc content. Sky's deal with its News Corporation group relative gives it three unskippable 30-second ads on the disc and credits on the DVD wallet and in advertising campaigns. A sponsor has already been lined up for the second issue.

Andrew Mullins, marketing director of Times Newspapers, said: "The Month DVD is a further leap forward in bringing The Sunday Times content to life. We are convinced that the new format will help to extend our market even further."

The first DVD includes specially commissioned content such as a documentary on the Stereophonics and their new album 'Language Sex Violence Other?'; live performances from Bloc Party, The Futureheads and Kaiser Chiefs recorded at the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour; and interviews with Beck and Tears for Fears.

Sunday Times critics feature in a 30-minute magazine programme highlighting the best in music, film and games, hosted by Xfm presenter Eddy Temple-Morris.

Additional content includes: the pilot episode of US comedy 'Arrested Development' from Fox Broadcasting; two playable demos of forthcoming games 'Lego Star Wars: The Video Game' and 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory'; and previews of films 'Be Cool' and 'Robots' from News Corporation's Fox movie studios.

The Sunday Times has a circulation of 1.4m, and its six-month average circulation is down 0.8% year on year.

The Month was originally launched by the Sunday Times in August 2003 as a monthly CD-rom based entertainment preview, extending the paper into computer-based media.

The Month DVD will be produced a minimum of six times a year and will continue to be edited by The Sunday Times Culture team with Initial, Endemol UK's production arm, producing the DVD.

Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R has created a TV campaign for The Month with the strapline "All-round entertainment", and a special promotional campaign will run on Capital Radio stations including Capital FM and Xfm.

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