At this year’s upfront presentations to advertisers, the broadcast networks reiterated something they remind us of every year – that they, the broadcast networks, are still the best platform for reaching consumers and impacting sales. They are correct. Despite steady audience declines, viewers still spend about five times as many hours watching traditional TV than video on all other screens combined. The broadcast networks, which account for 58 of the top 60 rated ad-supported primetime series, are still the best advertising vehicles out there. And yet, inexplicably, as they tout their ability to sell everyone else’s products, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and CW continue refusing to utilize one another to sell their own products.
The broadcast networks have been promoting their new fall series throughout the summer. My wife and I tend to DVR around two-thirds of the primetime shows we watch, and we don’t watch the broadcast networks nearly as much during the summer as the rest of the year, so we’ve seen only a few of these promos. Overall primetime ratings are down significantly this summer (as viewers of all ages find new shows to stream). I haven’t watched much NBC this summer, so the first ads I saw for any NBC new show was during the first Thursday Night pre-season football game between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns. The only new ABC show I’ve seen promos for is The Rookie, which I saw on ESPN.
My wife and I were watching Instinct on CBS, and saw an ad for Amazon Prime Video’s legal drama, Goliath. We had never heard of the show, but just binged the first season and will soon start watching season 2. None of the other broadcast networks, of course, can advertise on CBS because they
still stubbornly hang on to the antiquated and self-destructive policy of not allowing one another to cross-promote their programming.
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The idea that CBS will allow Goliath, but not ABC’s new police drama, The Rookie, to advertise on Instinct is insane. Of course, it’s not just CBS. Why can’t NBC promote its new medical drama, New
Amsterdam on ABC’s The Good Doctor? Why can’t ABC’s new drama, A Million Little Things, advertise on NBC’s This is Us? Why can’t CW and FOX superhero/sci-fi shows cross-promote one another?
Live TV viewing is declining. DVR ownership continues to inch upward (going from 49% to 55% U.S. penetration over the past three years). Viewing to streaming services is growing (SVOD penetration jumped from 42% to 64% in the past three years). Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have committed huge sums of money to develop and promote original content. Hulu and CBS All Access are also gaining viewers, while Disney is about to debut its own streaming service (as reportedly is Walmart). Is there any question why streaming services, which can each advertise on 100% of the strongest ad platform, continue to gain ground on those who can only advertise on 20% of the strongest ad platform? The broadcast networks should realize that nearly two-thirds of U.S. TV homes have at least one of the three major SVOD services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video) and more than 10% have all three. They need to see one another as allies, as well as competitors.
Cable networks long ago realized the best way to grow their audience was to appeal to those who were watching similar shows on other networks. They also understood that it didn’t really hurt them if other cable networks did the same. If everyone gained viewers, more advertising dollars would shift from broadcast to cable, and everyone would eventually benefit – which is exactly what happened.
Of course, it made sense at the time, since cable networks were trying to compete with the much bigger, stronger, and more established broadcast networks. They initially saw themselves more as allies than competitors. The broadcast networks, on the other hand, once controlled more than 90% of all television viewing, and traditionally have only seen one another as competitors. They competed so fiercely for every rating point that cross-promotion was unfathomable. Unlike cable networks, the broadcasters also needed to answer to their affiliates, which would vehemently resist promoting another broadcast network.
The competitive video landscape today is worlds beyond where it was back then. It is not the 1980s or 1990s (or even the early 2000s) anymore. A broadcast hit on one network actually does benefit all networks. When an Empire, This is Us, The Good Doctor, or Young Sheldon takes off, people start believing in the power of network TV again. Except for the occasional cable phenomenon like The Walking Dead, no other platform is capable of generating the audience of a successful broadcast network series.
In what other business does a company refuse to advertise its product to the largest group of readily available customers? These aren’t just random consumers the broadcast networks are choosing not to pursue. These are their prime prospects, whom the networks know are already watching similar programming, who are at that moment most receptive toward receiving a message about other TV programs. They are already watching and engaged with the exact type of program the networks are trying to promote. I’m not sure how to say it more plainly.
If I was a producer or actor in last season’s new military dramas, Valor on CW, or The Brave on NBC (both canceled after one season), I would be quite frustrated that neither series was promoted on compatible broadcast dramas such as CBS’s three NCIS’s. Both should certainly have been cross-promoted with CBS’s new SEAL Team. Not to do so is akin to promotional malpractice (particularly for Valor, which was co-produced by CBS Television Studios).
MediaPost recently ran an article sourcing iSpot.tv about how much on-air promotion each network has devoted to its new fall series this summer.
ABC’s promos have been largely on ABC, with some also airing on its sister cable networks, ESPN and Freeform. At this writing, the network has run 275 promos for A Million Little Things, 204 for The Rookie, 218 for Single Parents, and 140 for The Kids Are Alright. Imagine how much greater awareness would be had they also been promoted on CBS, NBC, and FOX.
CBS has so far aired the most on-air promos, focusing on six new series – Magnum P.I. (288 promos), FBI (234 promos), The Neighborhood (215 promos), God Friended Me (213 promos), Murphy Brown (162 promos), and Happy Together (149 promos).
NBC is focusing on just three new primetime fall series – Manifest (222 promos), New Amsterdam (201 promos), and I Feel Bad (187 promos) – again, mostly on NBC’s own air.
FOX has been heavily using its cable FX Networks group in addition to its broadcast network – Last Man Standing (168 promos on FOX, 1,717 overall), Rel (82 on Fox, 1,078 overall), and The Cool Kids (63 on FOX, 879 overall). FOX has also been heavily promoting its exclusive 11 weeks of Thursday Night Football (585 overall promos).
CW has aired promos for Charmed (72), All American (125), and Legacies (3).
I have no doubt that if the broadcast networks started cross-promoting one another’s shows, new series viewer sampling (and subsequently, success rates) would rise dramatically. In a MediaPost article last year, I opined that networks only care about how they rank among one another, not whether they actually grow their audience – short-term thinking that could lead to long-term disaster. If they continue to not advertise to the biggest chunk of available viewers, their audience declines will continue at a steady pace, and the long-term will get here a lot sooner than they think.
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