Disney to Send "Narnia" Clips to iPods

Folks interested in a sneak peek of the upcoming “Chronicles of Narnia” film can now download the film’s promotional video content to their iPods.

“Moviegoers are increasingly elusive to reach. We want to be able to deliver our content to them to view on the device they want to view it on, in the highest theatrical quality,” Jack Pan, VP of marketing at Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures Marketing, told ClickZ News.

As part of the online promotion of Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” the Disney unit is making available versions of the film’s trailers, clips, behind-the-scenes segments, interviews, and other film content.

Using technology from Maven Networks, fans can choose to have the content automatically delivered to their desktop, or synched to their video-enabled iPods.

“Marketers want to follow consumers wherever they are. More and more, they are on portable devices,” said Todd Boes, the VP of marketing at Maven. “Consumers are increasingly in control today, and as marketers realize that, they want to deliver their content to them wherever they are.”

Film marketing is slowly moving online, but not at as fast a pace as some had predicted, Pan said. “It will continue to migrate toward emerging media, which is already taking up a larger portion of media spending. But I think TV will be around for a long time.”

Once installed, the Narnia channel automatically checks for content updates, and will also offer a range of interactive options, including the ability to send to a friend, check for movie times and purchase tickets.

Earlier this year, 20th Century Fox launched a five-film promotion with Maven, and Sony Pictures is currently running a three-film campaign.

Disney has been heavily pushing “The Chronicles of Narnia” for almost a year. In May it ran a multichannel, worldwide “roadblock” simulcast of the film’s trailer on the Web, TV, and mobile phones.

Maven has been sending audio content to iPods for nearly a year with client Premiere Radio Networks, the syndication arm of Clear Channel Communications. Today, Premiere is also adding video content for its subscribers to download, offering 60-second clips of “The Rush Limbaugh Show” through the Maven service. Other marketers, beyond entertainment companies, are planning to offer their branded content for iPods in upcoming campaigns, Boes said.