Discovery Channel has hooked Nissan as lead sponsor of its hugely popular programming event Shark Week, with the automaker set to appear in a digital series called In Search of Canada’s Rogue Shark: Expedition.
It is the second straight year Nissan has partnered with Discovery Channel around Shark Week. Last year, the partners created a media sensation when they released a viral video purporting to show anglers encountering a shark while fishing on Lake Ontario.
“Nissan was excited to partner with Discovery and continue the momentum we created last year,” said Cosimo Prochilo, group manager of specialty brand partnerships for Discovery parent Bell Media. “It’s always exciting when working with Shark Week because there’s always an excitement around the brand and viewers just can’t get enough of it. It’s a big priority for Discovery.”
The new online series follows Jeffrey Gallant, founder of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG) as he attempts to find the elusive Greenland Shark in the waters of Baie-Comeau, QC, using an algorithm he developed 10 years ago.
The videos will feature the Nissan Rogue crossover vehicle. The marketing program was developed by Bell Media’s brand partnership group, in collaboration with Nissan’s agency partners, OMD and TBWA.
The series will run as 5-7 minute digital shorts on Discovery.ca, complemented by one-minute interstitials running during commercial breaks on Shark Week. A 30-minute encore episode combining all of the videos will run on Discovery on Aug. 1.
Now in its 20th year, Shark Week has become a summer programming sensation for Discovery, with Prochilo describing it as an “audience generator” during the traditionally slow summer viewing period.
“You probably had programmers sitting around in a board-room saying ‘What can we do?’ and that’s how Shark Week was born,” said Prochilo. “Twenty years later we have this pop-culture phenomenon – viewers can’t get enough of it.”
Last year, Discovery’s 14 hours of Shark Week programming averaged 196,000 viewers among the channel’s prime audience of adults 25-54; it has averaged 210,000 viewers in the past two years.
Last year’s Shark Week ranked as the most watched six-day period on Discovery among both people 2+ and adults 25-54. “It does phenomenal numbers for a summer audience,” said Prochilo.
This year’s iteration of Shark Week will feature 45 hours of programming. Walt Disney Studios is also on-board as a sponsor, promoting the July 17 release of Ant Man with billboards and traditional brand-sell spots.
