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Commercials worth
laughing about
TBS's funniest ads special pulls strong numbers
By Toni Fitzgerald
Media folks are always complaining about
ad clutter on TV. Too many ads and viewers won't pay attention to their
clients' messages. But what about a show that's nothing but commercials?
Will viewers pay attention?
Very much so, as TBS proved last week with its special “Funniest
Commercials of the Year: 2004.” The show drew strong ratings among the
very audience that buyers and planners most want to reach.
The special finished No. 20 among adults 18-49 on basic cable.
“Commercials” outdrew the WB’s “Big Man on Campus” and UPN’s
“Vibe Awards” in the Wednesday 9 p.m. time slot that night, averaging
1.7 million 18-49 viewers.
It was No. 27 among 25-54s, ahead of several bowl games on
ESPN and ranking as TBS’s No. 1 program for the week. Among 18-34s the
show also placed 27th, averaging 843,000 viewers.
Perhaps most interestingly, the special did not make the week’s
top 50 among total viewers. That seems to prove that highly desirable
demographics drove almost all interest in the show.
Why, when audiences complain endlessly about the amount of ads on
TV, did the special do so well? For one thing, it allowed viewers to vote
online for what they thought were the 10 funniest commercials, and
interactive programs always seem to draw interest.
For another, people enjoy commercials much more when they’re
presented as entertainment. Witness the Super Bowl; even non-sports fans
tune in to the game to see what clever and funny ads will appear.
Still, an entire show about commercials (and an hour-long one
at that) seems more like overkill than good TV. Thus give a large part of
the credit for TBS’s hit to the creative content of the commercials
themselves.
The spots included one in which a man spills a vat of
steaming coffee on himself only to bounce right back up and another in
which a referee tunes out the screams of a ticked-off coach, sparking a
memory of his wife delivering a similar diatribe.
Elsewhere in cable last week, TBS’s sister network, TNT,
reaped a viewer upswing thanks to Jerry Orbach fans. Episodes of “Law
& Order,” in which Orbach starred for 12 years, had huge growth
versus the same time period last year.
The week’s “L&O” episodes were up 35 percent among
18-49s and 39 percent among 25-54s.
But no network came close to matching ESPN last week.
Fueled by lots of minor bowl games, the network swept primetime and
total-day No. 1 rankings among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s.
It also had the top program of the week among total viewers
with the season finale of “Sunday Night Football” between the New York
Giants and Dallas Cowboys. The game averaged 8.64 million total viewers, 2
million more than the week’s No. 2 show.
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TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on
Household Rating
Week Ending Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
ESPN |
3241 |
NICK |
1852 |
|
2 |
TNT |
2083 |
ESPN |
1314 |
|
3 |
USA |
2056 |
NAN* |
1286 |
|
4 |
LIF |
1496 |
USA |
1184 |
|
5 |
NAN |
1381 |
TNT |
1180 |
|
5 |
TBSC |
1268 |
TOON |
1072 |
|
7 |
TOON |
1247 |
LIF |
988 |
|
8 |
FOXN |
1008 |
TBSC |
848 |
|
9 |
HIST |
938 |
FOXN |
756 |
|
10 |
CNN |
904 |
MTV |
659 |
|
11 |
SPK |
900 |
HIST |
599 |
|
12 |
MTV |
889 |
CNN |
585 |
|
13 |
AEN |
868 |
FX |
564 |
|
14 |
AMC |
867 |
AEN |
548 |
|
15 |
CMDY |
827 |
CMDY |
544 |
|
16 |
FX |
827 |
SPK |
538 |
|
17 |
SCIF |
815 |
HGTV |
531 |
|
18 |
HGTV |
731 |
FAM |
525 |
|
19 |
FAM |
723 |
AMC |
522 |
|
20 |
HALL |
680 |
SCIF |
494 |
|
21 |
CORT |
674 |
HALL |
466 |
|
22 |
DISC |
629 |
TVLD |
446 |
|
23 |
TVLD |
574 |
DISC |
434 |
|
24 |
BET |
561 |
CORT |
423 |
|
25 |
FOOD |
546 |
FOOD |
398 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research.
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25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on
Households
Week Ending Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
Cowboys/Giants |
ESPN |
6489 |
|
2 |
Florida/Miami (Fla) |
ESPN |
4480 |
|
3 |
Boise State/Louisville |
ESPN |
4065 |
|
4 |
Oklahoma State/ Ohio State |
ESPN |
3786 |
|
5 |
Texas Tech/California |
ESPN |
3545 |
|
6 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
3343 |
|
7 |
NFL Prime Time |
ESPN |
3321 |
|
8 |
WWE Entertainment |
SPK |
3298 |
|
9 |
Georgia/Wisconsin |
ESPN |
3173 |
|
10 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2997 |
|
11 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2948 |
|
12 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2922 |
|
13 |
Law & Order: SVU |
USA |
2864 |
|
14 |
WWE Entertainment |
SPK |
2814 |
|
15 |
Alabama/Minnesota |
ESPN |
2797 |
|
16 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2757 |
|
17 |
Law & Order: SVU |
USA |
2733 |
|
18 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2723 |
|
19 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2712 |
|
20 |
Rose Parade 2005 |
HGTV |
2709 |
|
21 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2704 |
|
22 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2691 |
|
23 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2642 |
|
24 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2638 |
|
25 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2629 |
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* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research.
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
ESPN |
796 |
ESPN |
407 |
|
2 |
USA |
579 |
NAN* |
364 |
|
3 |
TBSC |
564 |
USA |
358 |
|
4 |
TNT |
487 |
TBSC |
345 |
|
5 |
MTV |
428 |
NICK |
340 |
|
6 |
CMDY |
400 |
TNT |
288 |
|
7 |
FX |
352 |
MTV |
288 |
|
8 |
LIF |
320 |
CMDY |
263 |
|
9 |
NAN |
273 |
FX |
229 |
|
10 |
BET |
262 |
LIF |
222 |
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* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research.
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending
Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Cowboys/Giants |
ESPN |
1854 |
|
2 |
Real World XV |
MTV |
1706 |
|
3 |
Florida/Miami (Fla) |
ESPN |
1391 |
|
4 |
RW/RR Battle of Sexes II |
MTV |
1383 |
|
5 |
WWE Entertainment |
SPK |
1242 |
|
6 |
Family Guy |
TOON |
1067 |
|
7 |
Kiss the Girls |
USA |
1065 |
|
8 |
South Park |
CMDY |
1042 |
|
9 |
Family Guy |
TOON |
1020 |
|
10 |
MTV Cribs |
MTV |
1011 |
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* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research.
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TOP 10
AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults
18-49
Week Ending
Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
ESPN |
1928 |
ESPN |
831 |
|
2 |
USA |
1324 |
USA |
787 |
|
3 |
TNT |
1231 |
TNT |
744 |
|
4 |
TBSC |
1036 |
NAN* |
697 |
|
5 |
LIF |
789 |
TBSC |
627 |
|
6 |
FX |
713 |
NICK |
589 |
|
7 |
CMDY |
677 |
LIF |
546 |
|
8 |
SPK |
625 |
FX |
437 |
|
9 |
HIST |
559 |
CMDY |
430 |
|
10 |
MTV |
550 |
MTV |
373 |
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* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED
CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Cowboys/Giants |
ESPN |
4557 |
|
2 |
Florida/Miami (Fla) |
ESPN |
3011 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
SPK |
2565 |
|
4 |
NFL Prime Time |
ESPN |
2490 |
|
5 |
Boise State/Louisville |
ESPN |
2277 |
|
6 |
Real World XV |
MTV |
2167 |
|
7 |
Oklahoma State/Ohio State |
ESPN |
2143 |
|
8 |
Kiss the Girls |
USA |
2043 |
|
9 |
Texas Tech/California |
ESPN |
2005 |
|
10 |
WWE Entertainment |
SPK |
2000 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than
51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research.
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED
CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending Jan. 2 |
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Rank |
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
ESPN |
2059 |
ESPN |
831 |
|
2 |
USA |
1368 |
USA |
791 |
|
3 |
TNT |
1363 |
TNT |
782 |
|
4 |
TBSC |
955 |
NAN* |
618 |
|
5 |
LIF |
835 |
TBSC |
572 |
|
6 |
FX |
678 |
LIF |
561 |
|
7 |
SPK |
656 |
NICK |
474 |
|
8 |
SCIF |
647 |
FX |
411 |
|
9 |
HIST |
624 |
HIST |
397 |
|
10 |
AEN |
574 |
SPK |
381 |
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* Network broadcasts less than
51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research.
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults
25-54
Week Ending Jan. 2 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Cowboys/Giants |
ESPN |
4835 |
|
2 |
Florida/Miami (Fla) |
ESPN |
3029 |
|
3 |
NFL Prime Time |
ESPN |
2724 |
|
4 |
Boise State/Louisville |
ESPN |
2428 |
|
5 |
WWE Entertainment |
SPK |
2304 |
|
6 |
Texas Tech/California |
ESPN |
2237 |
|
7 |
Oklahoma State/Ohio State |
ESPN |
2193 |
|
8 |
Georgia/Wisconsin |
ESPN |
2190 |
|
9 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2109 |
|
10 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2023 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen
Media Research
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Jan. 6, 2005
©
2005
Media Life
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Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.
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