Masters of Their Domain: Media Matchmaker Joins Products, Productions

January 17, 2006
By Jim Edwards

NEW YORK -- Media Matchmaker, the Culver City, Calif.-based "Internet dating" service for producers, agencies and marketers looking for partners in branded entertainment deals, has announced its first set of clients, and one of them involves Seinfeld.

Sony Pictures Television, 20th Century Fox Television, Starcom Mediavest Group, Magna Global, A&E Television Networks and Bobby Goldstein Productions have all signed up to use the service, according to the company.

Sony is looking for partners for three shows, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and the DVD releases of forthcoming Seinfeld seasons, said president Jim Mahoney.

Seinfeld has traditionally been regarded as the ne plus ultra of product placement, with brands such as Junior Mints, the Today sponge, the Oh Henry! candy bar, the Chrysler Le Baron and Jujyfruits all getting (sometimes unflattering) mileage on the show.

But the digital insertion of new brands into the old Seinfeld shows from season seven and onward is not going to happen, said Bob Oswaks, evp marketing at Sony Pictures Television. "There's a lot of talk about that in the industry but that would never happen with a program like Seinfeld," said Oswaks.

AOL and Regal Cinemas have been previous Seinfeld DVD partners. Oswaks is looking for national brands that can bring some of their own media dollars to the table. There is a possibility of getting a "position on the menu or somehow in the DVD if their brand matched up with the Seinfeld brand," Oswaks said.

Media Matchmaker officially launched yesterday, although the company began previewing its service to potential clients in October and November of last year.

On the site, MediaMatchmaker.com, advertisers are asked to enter details of their hoped-for product placements and sponsorships on one side while TV producers enter details of their shows and sponsorship needs on the other side.

They can both search for each other by altering the parameters for their desired partners, in much the same way that singles do on Match.com. Search parameters include a huge variety of variables, including production dates, media (theater and online productions are included) budget size, product and genre.

Users pay a fee to make their searches and to view contact information for possible partners. Any deals they make remain confidential.

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