Michael Benson is currently the executive vice president, Marketing, ABC Entertainment Group as of June 2009.
- He was the person who conceived of the idea of having Hanso Foundation commercials inserted into the commercial breaks of TV broadcast of Lost, as revealed by Damon Lindelof at Meltdown's 2009 Lost event.
- He was also instrumental in promoting the show via creation of websites related to the show, in an attempt to attract more viewers after the drop on viewership after the first season. [1]
- Other marketing innovations include ARGs, blogs by the creators, tie-in books, iTunes downloads of episodes, and ad-supported episode streaming. [2] [3]
- He is the inspiration for the fictional character M. David Benson, president of the Apollo Candy Company, in a Lost ARG.
- He identified Gary Troup, the author of Bad Twin, as the "turbine man" in an interview with the New York Times on May 27, 2006.
External Links
- ABCMedianet - Official page at ABC