Television networks actually want their viewers to go online, according to Mary Kathleen Flynn, Senior Editor at TheDeal.com. Flynn, a veteran technology reporter who has covered the industry for CNN and MSNBC, describes how networks are using the Internet to deepen audience engagement. MTV Neworks formed a distribution partnership with DailyMotion to help its content reach a wider audience, and the station 13/WNET New York is publishing user-generated micro-documentaries on its Web site to give its audience a sense of ownership over the brand. More time spent with a brand online will eventually translate to digital advertising revenue, Flynn says. Digital monetization is clearly a keystone concern for network executives in today's Web environment, but it's not clear that deepened engagement online will cause viewers to travel seamlessly back and forth between television and the web. The Gossip Girl experiment, which TelevisionWeek editor Greg Bauman explained in a recent interview, proved that it's not easy to dictate where consumers view media. --Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer
