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TBS: Building up
from its comedy base
Slew of reality shows to enhance 'very funny' brand
By Kevin Downey
Less than one year into re-branding with the
tagline “very funny,” TBS is ready to move onto the next thing.
It’s not ditching comedies like off-network shows “Seinfeld,”
“Friends” and HBO’s “Sex and the City.” Instead, TBS, a
top-rated network and one of oldest around, is branching out into original
programs with reality-type unscripted comedies like “Daisy Does America,”
about British comedian Daisy Donovan experiencing life in America, and
one-time star Pauly Shore trying to revive his career and the Comedy
Store, his mother’s Sunset Strip comedy club, in “Minding the Store.”
The network is also bringing back reality show “Real
Gilligan’s Island” for a second season and has another program in the
works from Whoopi Goldberg. That show about a competition between sketch
comedy groups is in development.
“The foundation is the collection of ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Friends,’
and ‘Sex and the City,’ and we’re using those as the launching pad
to build the original programming,” says Steven Koonin, executive vice
president and chief operating officer of TBS and TNT.
“We’re using ‘Friends’ and ‘Sex’ for ‘Daisy,’
which will have a more female component. And we’re using ‘Seinfeld’
and ‘Family Guy,’ which have a younger male component, for ‘Minding
the Store.’”
Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming
at Carat, says TBS’s move into originals is the logical next step for a
giant network.
“They can’t just live on acquired shows because then they
are not very different from Nick at Nite and TV Land, which have built
brands around classic TV shows,” she says. “You have to have a brand
and be distinguishable to viewers and to advertisers.”
The network's identity
For much of its 29 years TBS was a general-interest
network built around sports that in recent years became virtually
indistinguishable from other networks, including USA and sister network
TNT, which since 2001 has focused on dramas. TBS’s direction changed
under Koonin. He joined Turner Broadcasting five years ago and quickly
re-branded TNT before taking on TBS.
While TBS’s current lineup of off-network sitcoms and the
occasional baseball game doesn’t completely separate it from other
networks, in less than a year it has done a good job of zeroing in on
young adults.
The network’s transition from general-interest to
comedy-focused network has been fast and smooth, says Brill.
“It’s working really well for them because it’s helping
define who they are,” she says. “They didn’t have a strong brand.
You would hear about movies and off-network [sitcoms], but you didn’t
know what it stood for.”
The network's target audience
TBS primarily targets
adults 18-34, with a fairly even split between men and women, with shows
like “Sex and the City” that appeal to the former and “Family Guy,”
Fox’s animated series, that target the latter.
The network also targets men and women with movies. Recent
movies like “Legally Blonde” have skewed the network’s audience
somewhat more female, but Koonin says that will change in the summer when
more movies targeting men hit the air.
The network's ratings
As the most-watched network among adults 18-34 and No. 2
among adults 18-49, there isn’t much for TBS to worry about. Moreover,
its primetime audience in first quarter was up 15 percent in the 18-34
demo and 6 percent among 18-49s on a year-to-year basis.
But as the highest-rated network, TBS also has a
challenge to continue growing, particularly with networks nipping at its
heels, like NBC Universal’s USA--No. 4 in the 18-34 demo--which this
week snagged rights to top-rated World Wresting Entertainment.
The network's competitive set
When TBS was re-branded a comedy network last June, it jumped
into a crowded field. The network competes for young viewers with networks
like MTV, USA, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central and Spike. So far it’s doing
well. And it is likely to continue to be a top network with solid
off-network shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
But TBS could have a tough time competing for ratings with
unscripted comedies. The genre had a spectacular genesis with HBO’s “Curb
Your Enthusiasm” but has otherwise stumbled.
What’s new for 2005/06
TBS’s re-branding is still fresh and the network’s
ratings are great, so it’s not going to veer too far from what’s
working.
But it will also try to snag a signature show that will
solidify its identity while driving up ratings, much as the “The Shield”
has done for FX.
The second season of “Real Gilligan’s Island” premieres
June 8. Other shows like “Daisy,” which is being produced
by Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, and “Minding the Store”
are a go, but without scheduled airdates. A pilot of Whoopi Goldberg’s
sketch show was recently delivered to the network. And Cedric the
Entertainer, from the “Barbershop” movies, signed a development deal
with the network.
The network's upfront outlook
TBS’s “very funny” re-branding hadn’t launched yet at last
year’s upfront presentation. So on Tuesday the network will give its
state-of-the-network presentation to media buyers, who will hear about TBS’s
growing ratings, the relatively young median age of its viewers--36 years
old--and its slate of upcoming original shows.
The network will also tout movies that are coming up, like
“Spider-Man."
The final prognosis
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being
excellent: 4.
When ratings are up for the No. 1 network in the 18-34
demographic that advertisers struggle to find, media buyers only want a
little reassurance that things aren’t going to go haywire in the coming
year.
TBS is wisely sticking with a lineup heavy on off-network
sitcoms while cautiously venturing into its next phase with unscripted
comedies.
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A LOOK AT
TBS
Launched in 1976 |
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Parent company |
Turner Broadcasting (Time
Warner) |
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No. of subscribers |
88.8 million homes |
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Median viewer age |
35.8 years old |
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Average primetime viewers* |
1,806,000 people |
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Average total-day viewers* |
1,044,000 people |
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Avg. primetime 18-34 viewers* |
565,000 people |
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Avg. total-day 18-34 viewers* |
326,000 people |
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Target audience |
Adults 18-34; Adults 18-49 |
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Main competitors |
Young-skewing networks,
including MTV, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, and broadcast networks
such as Fox |
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Upfront presentation (in New
York) |
Tuesday, April 12 |
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Nielsen Media Research, first quarter 2005 |
Click for past
upfront previews:
The
Weather Channel
National
Geographic
HGTV
Food Network
Headline News
Discovery
Channel
MTV
TLC
E!
ESPN
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April 7 ,2005
©
2005
Media Life
- Kevin Downey is a staff writer
for Media Life.
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