Networks and Programing
Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 2:45am | Edit Note | Delete
I have sat by with all this knowledge in my head about network programing and ratings and how the business end of television works and I want to cry because they are using such an arcane method of determining who is watching. Why do we stand by the old Nielsen ratings when we have new media to let the audience tell us what they want to see?
The biggest problem with ratings is that there are to many options with cable for audiences to developed any loyalty to a program. There is no unity or uniformity to programing anymore. On the big 4 networks there used to be a rule of thumb with regard to programs and placement. Mornings were for talk shows, afternoons were for soap operas, 8-10 PM were for family comedy, and 10PM was for drama. There were other time slots like after school programing aimed at kids and game shows in the early evening but you get the idea. This system worked for everyone and did so very well for decades. The audiences knew what shows were on and when without looking because it was a routine. The advertisers were able to target their preferred audiences based on subject content and the producers were able to be creative and make something to share with the world.
It seems that around the time Friends and Seinfeld nearly bankrupted NBC the networks seemed to forget that magic formula that brought audiences in. TGIF was an ingenious way of packaging programing so audiences would know where to go and they had fantastic success with it because they had a hit anchor program. The mistake they made was in not being ready for the fact that programs like Full House will lose their appeal eventually. There was to much of the ideal with the programing and marketing for TGIF built on the cornerstone of just one show. If they had moved the show up by even a half an hour one season before they ended the show they would have had a chance. They could have groomed a new cornerstone program and audiences would have accepted it because they would have had time to adapt.
Audiences don't like change, they don't want to have to search for their favorite programs, they want them to be there when they are supposed to be. We are creatures of habit and certain programs will become part of our routine if they are reliable. However the moment the program is not there, even a fiercely loyal audience will quickly lose interest. The problem is that network programers market shows when they should be marketing time slots and placing their most promising shows in those slots. Audiences are a product to sell to the advertisers but how can a network promise an audience when they are changing their lineup so frequently?
Sites like Hulu are full of comments where loyal fans admit that they are upset and discouraged by the network decisions to cancel or move shows. It is time for a change in the way the networks do their programing. We could also use an updated ratings system that includes non traditional viewers that watch their TV online.
The system is broken and you can almost see the execs wringing their hands trying to figure out what to do. They are mucking it up big time though and the quality of programing is declining and has been for years.
Check out this website it shows what numbers the networks are using when they make their decisions about what to keep and what to lose. I am on here all the time, I even have them email me the overnight numbers every morning but it makes no difference because as I said before THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK. But check the website anyway, it's an eye opener and they really have a handle on how things are done at the moment.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/
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