She’s one of the hottest attractions in online video drama – now Lonelygirl15 is busy striking product placement deals with advertisers.
Started on YouTube in 2006 as a supposedly authentic bedroom video diary from 16-year-old Bree, the series now pulls in massive audiences on Revver and is aiming to cash in.
Its creators have inked a deal with confectionary maker Hershey’s that sees Bree eating its Icebreakers Sours Gum.
Asked to share by co-stars, she becomes reluctant because she only has four left, then eats the remaining sweets before exclaiming: “Whoah, sour”.
The segment, tacked on to the end of the latest episode, gives a glimpse at one different future avenue for advertising in internet drama. The show gets 1.5m weekly viewers.
According to AdWeek:
“Hershey’s promotional agency, Omnicom Group’s Tracy Locke, brokered the deal with Lonelygirl15’s talent rep, Creative Artists Agency. The creators are in talks with other brands to become regular fixtures in the series.”
Producer Greg Goodfried is quoted as saying the numbers on the Hershey’s deal are comparable to that which tech talk vidcast Diggnation brings in – as much as $10,000 per sponsor.