Warner Bros. Cartoon Sites Going Interactive Crazy

With corporate sister AOL throwing open the garden doors and giving away "content" in an effort to draw eyeballs and advertising dollars, it only makes sense that Warner Bros. similarly utilize its store of classic cartoon brands in this new multimedia, broadband world.

Over the next two weeks, Warner is launching a new website for its Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Tom and Jerry, The Jetsons, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, etc.) property, relaunching a buffed out Scooby-Doo.com site, and adding new content to its signature LooneyTunes.com (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Road Runner, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe Le Pew, etc.) cartoons site.

Barreling into Web 2.0 territory, each site will crack open a broadband video channel, streams of cartoon episodes, original audio downloads, customized applications, social networking, user-generated content, and games in an effort to generate and hang onto a broad range of users, from tykes to middle-aged buffs who grew up with the classic cartoons.

Specifically, Staci Miller, VP of operations for Warner Bros. Online, said the Hanna-Barbera site will offer two hours a week of broadband video of its classic cartoons and new games using its characters.

The Looney Tunes site will offer its even MORE classic cartoons on-demand, grouped under a different theme each month. August is "Eternal Optimist Month," featuring the wildly self-deluded Wile E. Coyote and Pepe Le Pew. Users will also be able to create and download customized images and flash animations of their fave characters to share on their own web pages.

Scooby-Doo.com, relaunching August 15, will feature downloadable original audio mysteries, an interactive pet photo gallery, and 19 games geared to kids ages 2-12.

All content will be free and ad-supported. The Warnerbros.com site drew 6.9 million unique visitors in July, according to comScore Media Metrix, down 25% from the same period last year.

"Give them more and give it to them quickly," the suits shouted.

Article Author: Eric Olsen

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