We had an unexpected reaction from E4 viewers last week when they contacted the channel to complain that a digital on-screen graphic (D.O.G.) promoting the last episode of The Sopranos had interfered with their recent Sunday evening viewing. A number of viewers said the D.O.G. had affected their enjoyment of shows including Smallville, Friends and Wife Swap: The Aftermath.
To find out more, I took up the matter with the marketing and presentation team for E4 – they explained that the D.O.G. had been used previously to promote high profile shows such as Big Brother, Fonejacker and Skins and not caused significant concern among E4 viewers, who they believed would expect and appreciate a less conventional promotional style.
In light of the comments we received last week, the E4 team are very interested to hear more from viewers. Did you find the on screen graphic intrusive? Did it help alert you to a programme that you might have missed otherwise? The team welcome your comments on The Sopranos promotion and, with the help of your feedback, are considering making changes to the way key programmes are trailed.
When this style of on-screen graphic is used again, would it help if a small font size or fewer words are used? Should we limit the time the graphic is on-screen to 30 seconds? If you had a problem with the graphic please suggest how we could solve it.
Do you have any other thoughts about how best to publicise other key E4 shows? The presentation team want to be as innovative as possible and welcome any ideas you, the viewer, might have!
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I loathe the use of D.O.G.s -on a drama they really interupt the narrative flow- there is no way you could present them that wouuld be acceptable to me – even if you used the smallest font and flashed the image up for a second it would still intrude on the programme. I see enough trails in the intervals to alert me to what is coming on next on E4 I don’t need any more ways to attract me to E4’s programming. You have to trust that your programming is strong enough to pull in viewers without needing to masacre the content of another programme. Perhaps you could flash up a promotional frame once you have cut into the ad break but otherwise leave our programmes alone.
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