CBS and iWon.com, the portal in which the TV network
has a majority stake, on Tuesday launched “Club CBS”, a loyalty program
that rewards viewers of CBS television shows that answer questions about
the programs on the iWon.com site.
Viewers that correctly answer questions, including identifying the “Star of
the Day”, get entered into a sweepstakes for CBS-themed prizes. For
January, the grand prize is a trip to the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
Future prizes will include trips, behind-the-scenes access, and merchandise.
The company looks at the promotion as an opportunity to build a one-to-one
relationship with its viewers. The “Club CBS” sweepstakes will be promoted
in print advertising, on the Internet and e-mail and in on-air
announcements on CBS.
IWon.com itself, which launched in October, is basically a loyalty program
in itself. It rewards visitors to the site by entering them into a
sweepstakes to win $10,000 every day and $1 million a month. Although the
site’s traffic has grown dramatically since its inception,
industry-watchers wonder whether it would continue the growth without
paying users to visit.