Channel One News is a youth marketing company whose main purpose is to get advertising to a captive audience of impressionable schoolchildren. The company loans a school TV equipment in exchange for the school’s contractual pledge to show students a daily, 12-minute, hyper-commercial, TV program called Channel One News. Students lose one hour a week of schools time, which equates to one lost week of instructional time (32 hours) per year. No educational organization endorses the use of Channel One News.
Channel One has fallen on very hard times. Once they claimed over 8 million students were under contract. Since 1997 they have continued to lose schools and now they claim “nearly five million” students and the true figure is probably lower.
In May 2014, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired Channel One from ZelnickMedia the makers of the ultra-violent Grand Thief Auto video game series. Houghton Mifflin did not disclose the purchase price.
At the end of 2014 most of Channel One’s full-paying advertisers have abandoned the program.
Above: This picture is taken from Channel One’s web rebroadcast of their in-school TV show. This is what the children see. This is a new commercial for LeapFrog’s Fly Pen. Do you see the fine print at the bottom? Can you read it? It’s difficult but you can read it because it is frozen....
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Here is a 26-page Channel One sales pitch to potential web advertisers. Channel One not only has advertising on its in-school TV show, but also on its web site Channelone.com. As more and more schools drop Channel One’s TV show or simply turn it off, Channel One has to ramp up the advertising on...
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Channel One screen shot : The ending of the commercial for the $250 Wii video game system. It’s nearing the holiday season and Channel One again is beginning to advertise expensive products for their preteen and teen audience. The objective is to get young people to nag their parents. Nintendo is a long-time advertiser...
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Screen shot from Channel One: Kids get another dose of Lady Sovereign’s alcohol-drenched lyrics. See for yourself. I wake up late every morning Managers calling im still yawning Get up wake up hair and makeups Waiting for you don’t be stalling This performance is important I don’t think I can put my all in...
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You would think Channel One would know better. They are back advertising movies in classrooms. "Unaccompanied Minors" is the name of a new PG-rated Warner Brothers movie. Channel One is now running 30-second ads for the film in middle schools and high schools. If a school has 1,000 students that is 500 student-minutes lost...
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Love me or hate me, it’s still an obsession. Love me or hate me, that is the question. If you love me then thank you! If you hate me then f*** you! On September 8 (and probably more days) Channel One News ran a commercial for Verizon Wireless’s new $150 Chocolate cell phone. To...
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Clearasil Marches Into Middle-School Classes Brand Riles Watchdogs by Enlisting Teachers to Hand Out Samples to Students By Jack Neff Published: November 13, 2006 CINCINNATI (AdAge.com) — Earlier this year, a teacher at a New Jersey private school handed out more than homework to the middle-school students: brochures and sample packets of Clearasil. Clearasil’s...
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Let’s take a look at today’s Channel One show. The script for Monday’s show was found on Channelone.com at 7:48 PM EST on Sunday, November 12. That means the show was wrapped up much earlier. Was it “in the can” earlier Sunday? or maybe Saturday? When you read the script of the show below...
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To: Judy Harris, President of Channel One From: Jim Metrock, President of Obligation You can’t save Channel One. Let it die. It wants to die. Channel One is Channel Done. It’s not just wordplay – it’s true. When you became president of Channel One you inherited the many sins of those who came...
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PRIMEDIA Reports Third Quarter 2006 Results Tuesday November 7, 8:30 am ET "However, the magnitude of other challenges has increased, causing us to reduce 2006 guidance. Channel One is having a worse-than-expected 2006 selling season. Enthusiast Media’s International Automotive category continues to decline as the overall tuner market has not yet stabilized. Additionally, expenses...
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