HBO has launched its heavily marketed short film series tonight, HBOVoyeur.com, which the TV channel says is made to remind people that they can tell stories better than anybody.
The short-form films will be based upon various activities taking place in an apartment building. There will be everything from people having affairs to a resident murderer. The series will include eight vignettes.
There has been speculation the online series will become a new HBO show, but the network denies that idea, saying it will "reinforce our brand image of being the best place for storytelling," says Courteney Monroe, senior vice president of consumer marketing at HBO.
The Web platform is not the only place you'll be able to see the show, as HBO will also offer it to subscribers of their video-on-demand service, along with wireless offerings as well. Each platform will include an additional scene of some type to encourage people to try it.
On the VOD service from HBO, users will be able to see an extra episode of the series called "The Watcher," which is exclusive to the service. For mobile users, they will add an extra 30-second video clip that seemingly shows a view from the security camera in the apartment hallways.
HBO has been promoting the web series for about a month pretty heavily. Today they had one thing they did that I especially liked, where they projected the film clips onto the side of a building, making it look like there was a huge opening in the building where viewers could look inside and see what was going on.
As HBO representatives said, this isn't about creating a new show or a test to see if there is interest in this type of content, it's an effort at branding the channel and keeping them in the minds of consumers while they look to create new content that can capture the imaginations of viewers like the "Sopranos" did.
In a sense, it's a sponsorship of themselves using a series of stories to that end. From the buzz they've got from it, it looks like it's a success.
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