The USA Network cable channel, part of NBCUniversal, is adapting the show, “Talk Stoop With Cat Greenleaf,” for a series of vignettes that will appear on the channel during a daytime block of programming that runs from 11 a.m. through 3 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.
There are to be three to four vignettes each hour, with each vignette lasting from 10 seconds to 60 seconds. The vignettes, which go by the jargon-y term “short-form content pods” at USA, are to run adjacent to regular commercials.
Executives of USA plan to describe the initiative at their upfronts presentation on Thursday afternoon at Pier 36 in downtown Manhattan. The presentation will conclude the upfronts week in New York, during which cable channels and broadcast networks are sharing with Madison Avenue their schedules for the 2013-14 season.
The host of “Talk Stoop,” Cat Greenleaf, will also serve as the host of the USA programming block, which offers viewers reruns of series like “CSI,” “Law Order” and “NCIS.” She will greet viewers by saying something like, “Welcome to USA daytime.”
Ms. Greenleaf will also continue as the host of “Talk Stoop,” which appears on properties that include WNBC-TV in New York and iVillage.com, which, like USA, are part of the NBCUniversal division of Comcast.
Just as she does on “Talk Stoop,” Ms. Greenleaf will interview celebrities during the vignettes, who will include stars of USA series, celebrities in the news, stars who have new movies or TV shows to promote and even brand characters.
USA is offering marketers sponsorships of the vignettes, along with acknowledgments like “Brought to you by …” There will also be opportunities to place products within the vignettes so that Ms. Greenleaf could be watched, say, drinking a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee or driving a BMW.
Ms. Greenleaf “has the right personality and editorial credibility to make daytime feel topical, vibrant and culturally relevant for both fans and advertisers,” said Alexandra Shapiro, executive vice president for marketing and digital at USA.
The initiative is another example of an increasingly popular trend known on Madison Avenue as branded content, native advertising or branded entertainment. The goal is to weave brands and products into editorial or entertainment content in a fashion that will circumvent consumers’ growing abilities to avoid or skip conventional ads like commercials.
“Cat is going to be the MC of the day, anchoring the four-hour block,” said Laura Molen, executive vice president for cable advertising sales at NBCUniversal, who oversees USA and other channels like E! and Chiller.
Some vignettes “will be her traditional stoop interviews,” Ms. Molen said, and some will feature Ms. Greenleaf using a “portable” stoop that will enable her to visit locations like restaurants.
The vignettes are being sold to advertisers as part of packages, Ms. Molen said, that are composed of the segments along with “regular commercials before or after.” She said that pricing is being determined as the sales process gets under way.
The original programming that is to be discussed at the USA upfronts presentation will include drama series like “Graceland,” about undercover federal agents; comedy series like “Sirens,” about paramedics; and reality series like “Summer Camp.”
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