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Subway Expands Its Slate of Original Web Shows

Subway is sponsoring a web series featuring Cimorelli, a pop-music sister act.Credit...Pearson Carrillo Photography

The Subway restaurant chain is taking a foot-long approach to original online video programming, sponsoring a second web series and considering a renewal for its first entry into the growing field.

Subway is to announce on Tuesday that it will sponsor an original scripted web comedy series called “Summer With Cimorelli,” featuring six singing sisters whose pop music has become popular through YouTube. The commitment to “Summer With Cimorelli” comes after Subway has sponsored since the summer of 2012 an original scripted web comedy series called “The 4 to 9ers,” which, executives say, is likely to be renewed for additional episodes beyond the 18 that have already been produced.

There are to be six initial episodes of “Summer With Cimorelli,” which like “The 4 to 9ers” will incorporate the Subway brand into plot lines. For instance, in the first episode the Cimorelli sisters order Subway sandwiches to serve at a party, and subsequent episodes are to include a plot about a sister, Lisa Cimorelli, who has a crush on a young man who makes sandwiches at a Subway restaurant. That aspect of the series makes them both examples of what is known as content marketing or branded entertainment; Subway is also a fan of content marketing in episodes of traditional television shows, among them “Chuck,” “Community,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “Nashville.”

Online programming is becoming increasingly popular on Madison Avenue as consumers embrace the concept of watching video on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as well as on desktop and laptop computers. Although the amount of video watched in that manner is still tiny compared with the amount of video watched on television, the rapid acceptance of alternative viewing by consumers has led marketers and agencies to enter the field.

The ardor for online video was demonstrated recently by the enthusiastic participation in two weeks of presentations known as the 2014 Digital Content NewFronts, which served as a kind of counterprogramming to the traditional upfront presentations made by television companies last month. In fact, Hulu featured “The 4 to 9ers,” which runs on hulu.com as well as on YouTube, during its NewFronts presentation.

Still, for many advertisers online video is more an experiment or a supplement than a mainstay, and Subway’s decision to expand its spending on original web programming is considered significant compared with the numerous marketers that have proved to be one-time wonders.

“As the whole entertainment model evolves, you get more and more high-profile people who want to be involved with this,” said Tony Pace, senior vice president and global chief marketing officer at Subway in Milford, Conn.

And enthusiasm is building not only among marketing executives, but also actors: Mr. Pace cited the recent addition of Doris Roberts to the cast of “The 4 to 9ers.”

Research has found that consumers who are aware of “The 4 to 9ers” — which, in situation-comedy style, tells tales about a crew of part-time workers at a Subway restaurant — “had a stronger, more highly positive view of the brand” than those unfamiliar with it, Mr. Pace said. The “engagement” generated by the first web series led Subway to sponsor a second, he added.

For “Summer of Cimorelli,” Subway turned to the same production company that creates episodes of “The 4 to 9ers,” Content & Company in Los Angeles.

“We were very excited when Hulu showcased ‘The 4 to 9ers’ at its NewFronts presentation,” said Stuart McLean, chief executive of Content & Company. “That’s rarefied air.”

That presentation was among recent developments in the realm of online video suggesting that “the market is certainly moving in the right direction,” he added. “We’re hoping ‘Summer With Cimorelli’ has an equally long life cycle as ‘The 4 to 9ers.’ ”

To help “Summer With Cimorelli” reach its target audience of teenagers and preteens, the web show will also be available on the YouTube channel of AwesomenessTV, a destination for viewers in those age brackets, along with the Cimorelli YouTube channel. The partnerships marks “Subway’s first real involvement with Awesomeness,” Mr. McLean said. AwesomenessTV became part of DreamWorks Animation SKG in May 2013.

“We’re big fans of the Cimorellis,” said Brian Robbins, chief executive of AwesomenessTV, adding: “They’re a channel in the Awesomeness network, and they’re the first act signed to our record label through the Universal Music Group, Awesomeness Records. And some of the music you hear on the show will be part of the music coming out later this year.”

“We’re treating the show like a big event,” Mr. Robbins said. “The first episode will be live-streamed to Awesomeness TV from the premiere party at YouTube Space Los Angeles and the Cimorellis will perform at the party.”

There will also be a significant presence for “Summer With Cimorelli” in social media, with a four-way collaboration to generate viewers among AwesomenessTV, Cimorelli, Subway and YouTube. There will also be content on platforms like Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter.

“The beauty of social media is that this kind of stuff gets shared,” Mr. Pace said. “The numbers are just big, big numbers.”

Although those involved declined to discuss the budget for the “Summer With Cimorelli” project, Subway does not shy from supporting its marketing initiatives and is one of the largest spenders on advertising each year. According to Kantar Media, part of WPP, Subway spent $517.5 million in 2013, compared with $514 million in 2012 and $472 million in 2011.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: Subway Expands Its Slate of Original Web Shows. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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