AOL, Microsoft lure advertisers with TV-style shows

Reuters reports that technology powerhouses like Microsoft Corp and AOL Inc are flexing their muscles as storytellers, parading TV network-style shows before advertisers at an annual digital content showcase in New York next week.

With an eye on the big bucks such shows can command, Microsoft will trot out a soccer reality show called “Every Street United.” Sony Corp’s digital network Crackle will serve up Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” and AOL is presenting a documentary drama about five New Yorkers called “Connected.”

This is a big shift from the short Web episodes many tech companies have presented for the last two years at the week-long “NewFronts” event – modeled after the annual “upfronts” where broadcast and cable TV channels show their wares to Madison Avenue.

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