Dateline NBC rolled out a sweepstakes on its Facebook page today that will send five winners to New York for a behind-the-scenes studio tour.
Viewers who “like” Dateline can enter into a contest to watch the March 6th debut of Dateline’s program, “My Kid Would Never,” a special report on teenage bullying. At a screening party, winners “will have a chance to mingle with members of the ‘Dateline NBC’ team, and go behind-the-scenes at the NBC News studios at Rockefeller Center,” explains the press release.
Facebook challenges and contests are becoming a popular marketing tool for media companies to drive new fans. Last month, the TruTV show Operation Repo promised a new online-only episode if it hit 500,000 fans by the end of the season. So far, it’s at 290,000, up from 243,000 when the challenge began.
With just under 83,000 fans, Dateline NBC leads ABC 20/20 on Facebook (74,000 fans) but lags behind powerhouse 60 Minutes (220,000 fans).
(Full disclosure: I work for msnbc.com, which is half-owned by NBC.)