Sunday night was a difficult night for me – LOST ended. Currently, I am mourning a television show that melted my brain weekly and deeply affected me on a personal level. As I try to come to grips with the ending and let me tell you – I’m still wrapping my head around it and trying to decide if I was one of the many who disliked the ending or one of the ones who adored the ending, I want to talk more about the ads that ran during the finale more than the finale itself. This is probably why I work in advertising.
Target wins! Target took LOST mythology - the smoke monster, the numbers and the wild boar and were able to cleverly tie them to ads for a smoke detector, keyboard and humorously, barbecue sauce.
As the finale went on and our questions were more sidestepped than answered, I chuckled each time a Target ad ran although I was also doing some mental math, allegedly a 30 second spot was running upwards of $900,000 for the finale.
While Target won in the ad department, LOST didn’t really win in the ratings department. LOST’s finale averaged only 13.5 million viewers, which is nowhere near the 105 million that tuned in for M*A*S*H signing off in 1983.
As for me? I’ll always be LOST. It was a show that meant a tremendous amount to me and I will miss my Tuesday night excitement and probably miss my Wednesday conversations with friends and coworkers trying to dissect the show even more.
Victoria 5.25.10
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Fall 2010 TV Schedule
9 months ago to the day, I took a stab at how the 2009-2010 fall TV schedule would do. This past week, the networks did their Fall 2010 'upfronts', giving us a preview of what the schedule would like for this coming year. This year, instead of going day by day, I thought I would just give a 'Top 10' highlighting some story lines and interesting points from the schedule including new shows, cancellations, and show movement during the week. (In no particular order... here we go!)
1) CBS obviously is certainly going to try and attract younger demos this year. After canceling solidly performing shows like 'Ghost Whisperer', 'Numb3rs', and 'Cold Case', the network must be hoping their new shows and movement of existing shows pays off. Specifically, ...
2) 'The Big Bang Theory' moving from 9:30p/8:30p Monday night to 8p/7p Thursday night. It will be hard to compete with the NBC sitcoms (specifically it will now be head to head with 'Community'), BUT 'Theory' grew ratings AGAIN this year, and is now one of the highest-rated sitcoms, if not THE highest week by week. Plus, it will be a strong lead-in to...
3) 'Stuff My Dad Says' will premiere at 8:30p/7:30p on Thursday nights on CBS after 'Theory'. This new sitcom is based on the Twitter account @sh%tmydadsays (except replace the % with an i- you get the drift.) Sample tweet- "I didn't say you were ugly. I said your girlfriend is better looking than you, and standing next to her, you look ugly." Premise is interesting, but not sure how it will relate to a sitcom.
4) In having two sitcoms in the first prime hour Thursday night, 'Survivor' is being moved to Wednesday nights at 8p/7p. This past season performed great as it pitted past seasons' 'Heroes' against 'Villains'. Will be interesting to see how it continues to do, especially against weaker competition on Wednesday night.
5) The CSI franchise has begun to struggle a bit from increased competition and decreasing ratings. The original show remains in its' Thursday night 9p/8p time slot, but 'CSI: New York' moves to Friday 9p/8p and 'CSI: Miami' to Sunday 10p/9p.
6) You are probably now well aware that Jay Leno's 10p/9p Monday-Friday prime show ended in February before the Winter Olympics (I know we were all shocked, right?!? *sarcasm*) and he's back to 'The Tonight Show'. Because of this, we will see MULTIPLE new prime shows on NBC this fall to fill the multiple voids. Since they do have Sunday Night NFL Football to rely on, that was one less night they had to come up with shows for but Monday & Wednesday have very new looks to them.
7) NBC also canceled the long-running, multi-spin-off-creating drama 'Law & Order'. But, have no fear! Wednesday nights still will showcase 'Law & Order:SVU' at 9p/8p, and as a follow-up, 'Law & Order: LA' at 10p/9p. They must have noticed the success of 'NCIS: LA' on the heels of 'NCIS'...
8) FOX has finally realized what a lot of us already knew- 'Glee' is a VERY popular show. Relegated to the summer last year, it's finally getting it's due spot on the fall TV schedule- Tuesday nights at 8p/7p. With competition from 'The Biggest Loser' and 'NCIS', it will be interesting to see how the show continues to perform.
9) Pop Quiz time! What is the name of the ABC sitcom that airs on Wednesday nights at 9:30p/8:30p after 'Modern Family'? If you answered, 'Cougar Town', then you are correct... FOR NOW! The show's creators and producers are rallying for a name change for the semi-popular sitcom before it premieres again in the fall. Studio research found too many instances of people saying they would never watch the show because of what the IMPLIED plot lines were. Since the show has actually morphed into an ensemble hit, featuring both male and female characters and a variety of story lines it really does only make sense to have the title reflect that. Should be interesting to see what they come up with...
10) Suspiciously quiet this spring upfront, the CW made the fewest changes out of all the networks. Only officially canceling one show ('Melrose Place', which really was done after the fall last year), the network is premiering two new programs- 'Hellcats' about a competitive college cheerleading squad (starring Ashley Tisdale of 'High School Musical' fame) and 'Nikita' about a female spy/assassin who goes rogue and now is bent on bringing down the agency that trained her. (Sounds a little like ABC's 'Alias', right?!) Either way, both shows will probably do well with the network's Adults 18-34 demographic.
For now, though, we will have to wait to see how the fall performs. More and more people are spending more and more time watching TV, though, so there will be many shows (new & old!) that won't disappoint. Happy viewing!
- AB
1) CBS obviously is certainly going to try and attract younger demos this year. After canceling solidly performing shows like 'Ghost Whisperer', 'Numb3rs', and 'Cold Case', the network must be hoping their new shows and movement of existing shows pays off. Specifically, ...
2) 'The Big Bang Theory' moving from 9:30p/8:30p Monday night to 8p/7p Thursday night. It will be hard to compete with the NBC sitcoms (specifically it will now be head to head with 'Community'), BUT 'Theory' grew ratings AGAIN this year, and is now one of the highest-rated sitcoms, if not THE highest week by week. Plus, it will be a strong lead-in to...
3) 'Stuff My Dad Says' will premiere at 8:30p/7:30p on Thursday nights on CBS after 'Theory'. This new sitcom is based on the Twitter account @sh%tmydadsays (except replace the % with an i- you get the drift.) Sample tweet- "I didn't say you were ugly. I said your girlfriend is better looking than you, and standing next to her, you look ugly." Premise is interesting, but not sure how it will relate to a sitcom.
4) In having two sitcoms in the first prime hour Thursday night, 'Survivor' is being moved to Wednesday nights at 8p/7p. This past season performed great as it pitted past seasons' 'Heroes' against 'Villains'. Will be interesting to see how it continues to do, especially against weaker competition on Wednesday night.
5) The CSI franchise has begun to struggle a bit from increased competition and decreasing ratings. The original show remains in its' Thursday night 9p/8p time slot, but 'CSI: New York' moves to Friday 9p/8p and 'CSI: Miami' to Sunday 10p/9p.
6) You are probably now well aware that Jay Leno's 10p/9p Monday-Friday prime show ended in February before the Winter Olympics (I know we were all shocked, right?!? *sarcasm*) and he's back to 'The Tonight Show'. Because of this, we will see MULTIPLE new prime shows on NBC this fall to fill the multiple voids. Since they do have Sunday Night NFL Football to rely on, that was one less night they had to come up with shows for but Monday & Wednesday have very new looks to them.
7) NBC also canceled the long-running, multi-spin-off-creating drama 'Law & Order'. But, have no fear! Wednesday nights still will showcase 'Law & Order:SVU' at 9p/8p, and as a follow-up, 'Law & Order: LA' at 10p/9p. They must have noticed the success of 'NCIS: LA' on the heels of 'NCIS'...
8) FOX has finally realized what a lot of us already knew- 'Glee' is a VERY popular show. Relegated to the summer last year, it's finally getting it's due spot on the fall TV schedule- Tuesday nights at 8p/7p. With competition from 'The Biggest Loser' and 'NCIS', it will be interesting to see how the show continues to perform.
9) Pop Quiz time! What is the name of the ABC sitcom that airs on Wednesday nights at 9:30p/8:30p after 'Modern Family'? If you answered, 'Cougar Town', then you are correct... FOR NOW! The show's creators and producers are rallying for a name change for the semi-popular sitcom before it premieres again in the fall. Studio research found too many instances of people saying they would never watch the show because of what the IMPLIED plot lines were. Since the show has actually morphed into an ensemble hit, featuring both male and female characters and a variety of story lines it really does only make sense to have the title reflect that. Should be interesting to see what they come up with...
10) Suspiciously quiet this spring upfront, the CW made the fewest changes out of all the networks. Only officially canceling one show ('Melrose Place', which really was done after the fall last year), the network is premiering two new programs- 'Hellcats' about a competitive college cheerleading squad (starring Ashley Tisdale of 'High School Musical' fame) and 'Nikita' about a female spy/assassin who goes rogue and now is bent on bringing down the agency that trained her. (Sounds a little like ABC's 'Alias', right?!) Either way, both shows will probably do well with the network's Adults 18-34 demographic.
For now, though, we will have to wait to see how the fall performs. More and more people are spending more and more time watching TV, though, so there will be many shows (new & old!) that won't disappoint. Happy viewing!
- AB
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Things are starting to heat up
A recent article on mediabuyerplanner.com confirms what we here at InLine Media have been seeing for the last several weeeks now - it appears the advertising industry is heating back up.
According to the article, Time Warner reported a 9.8% increase in earnings for the first quarter of 2010. They attribute the increase to two factors, an increase in subscriptions to magazines and properties they own such as HBO as well as an increase in ad revenues. Viacom also reported strong growth due to shows such as "Jersey Shore", which helped to achieve a 38% increase in profits over first quarter of last year for the company. CBS reported a 17% increase in ad revenues, (most of which can be attributed to one of the highest rated Super Bowls of all time) but nonetheless helped the company achieve it's first revenue increase in more than a year.
It appears many companies are looking to get back into the advertising arena to introduce new products and services in the hopes of building market share.
When you consider this, in addition to the many states that have hotly contested political races going on this year and all of the PAC (Political Action Committee) spending to sway your opinion on any number of issues, it's safe to say that the deep discounts in ad rates realized over the previous 12-18 months will not hold true for the remainder of 2010. It will be interesting to see where the economy's at and how rates come back down on the other side of November 2nd.
Until then, I suggest you keep your seatbelt fastened and return your tray-tables to their upright and locked positions. It appears we're experiencing some turbulence.
-The Capt'n
-SP
Monday, May 3, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
