PartyPoker.com Commercial

crunchy1 · #1 05-24-2006, 04:46 PM

Just saw a new commercial on A&E which referenced PartyPoker.COM...

Has something recently changed? I was under the impression that networks were refraining from airing .com commercials due to the questionable legality of online gaming. This particular commercial not only referenced PartyPoker.com - but also PartyCasino.com and PartyBingo.com.

MicroBob · #2 05-24-2006, 05:01 PM

A couple others have reported this as well.

That's interesting that it was on A&E.

Although it's still possible that it was just a local cable company inserting such commercials into their programming (like you see with other local spots for car-dealers and so forth).

Party could be targeting the local-cable companies in large college-towns such as Madison in such a manner.

OR - I don't know what I'm talking about and perhaps some of the larger cable channels are deciding that it's okay to air whatever they want in spite of whatever intimidation tactics the DOJ might have in mind.

The_Scout · #3 05-24-2006, 05:09 PM

From Party's standpoint, I can definitely understand why it would be worth the risk. The only thing they have to lose is the ad buy money, so if they make a lot of small-ish payments instead of a big sum in advance, they're not risking much.

I have no idea why A&E or a cable TV outlet would go for it, though. Maybe the pot was so big they just wanted to gamb00l.

MicroBob · #4 05-24-2006, 05:13 PM

"worth the risk" from party's standpoint? I don't think they are risking anything.

Some cable execs might not have any idea about the legalities of all this. For example, it could just be some ignorant sales guy who wasn't aware that there are differences in Party commercials (dot-net vs. dot-com).

I can guarantee you there are TV people out there who have asked, "How can they say they aren't a gambling site in those TV spots?"

Just because we understand what's going on doesn't mean that everyone in the television universe does.

If we don't see any more of these dot-com spots then one can guess that it was either an accident by A&E or perhaps a local-cable insert.

The_Scout · #5 05-24-2006, 05:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Just because we understand what's going on doesn't mean that everyone in the television universe does.

[/ QUOTE ]
You can bank on the fact that both sides of the transaction know exactly what happened to Paradise with their multi-million dollar Travel Channel ad buy. And yes, Paradise lost quite a bit when that happened, so there is a risk for the poker site as well as the network.

And I don't think too many ads get put on the air by "mistake."

mason55 · #6 05-24-2006, 06:16 PM

I saw a partypoker.com ad on... Bravo I think. Which is owned by same parent as A&E. It was during a Cirqu du Soleil broadcast.

MicroBob · #7 05-24-2006, 06:42 PM

There are many people who work in television who wouldn't be aware that online-poker is in a legal grey-area.

Yes, there are lots of people who would be familiar with the Discovery Channel situation from a couple of years ago.
But not everyone.

Possible A&E networks are just sneaking them on occasionally to get the extra money that Party might be willing to pay for them AND to see if the DOJ does anything.

OR, it's possible that Party just bought some spots there, then sent the spots to A&E networks, and A&E networks just started airing them without even noticing that they are different from the party spots airing on other channels.

2 or 3 people check the spots. They appear okay to whoever check them (they run the correct amount of time and there are no glitches on the tape). So 'on the air' they go just as party had requested.

In other words, don't underestimate the possibility that A&E networks might not even realize they are actually doing something semi-risky or even something that the other networks aren't doing.

There are many non-players who would see these different ads and not really notice or care about any kind of difference.
there are definitely some TV people out there who know equally little about this stuff.

JJDylan · #8 05-24-2006, 08:48 PM

ive seen a few .com commercials lately. Ive seen partypoker.com, pokerstars.com and a betholdem.com commercial all this week. and all on cable. I was wondering if something changed with that as well

BluffTHIS! · #9 05-24-2006, 10:30 PM

It could also simply be that party and other sites are intending to challenge in court the legality of bans on .com advertising by online gaming concerns. The real question is can a cable channel be held criminally liable for running them. If not, then all party has to do is to just pay as they go instead of giving them the money for a whole ad campaign up front which could be seized as was apparently the case with the Discovery Channel and paradise (I think it was paradise but could be wrong - maybe it was party).