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Cable
'Camp Rock': New kids on the block
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jun 26, 2008 - 1:15:18 AM

After its hugely successful premiere in January 2006, Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” became the barometer for success in kids’ television.

By that measure, “Camp Rock” will be the next huge kids’ franchise.

Last Friday's premiere of the first Jonas Brothers Disney movie outdrew the original “Musical” and became the network’s No. 2 movie of all time, behind “HSM 2.”

Not surprisingly, Disney has just greenlighted a sequel.

“Rock,” about a group of pretty wannabe teen musicians who meet at camp, drew 8.9 million total viewers from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday on Disney. It was the night’s most-watched program on broadcast or cable, easily outdrawing ABC’s competing “Daytime Emmy Awards,” and it became cable’s No. 1 show of the year.

The movie drew 3.4 million kids 9-14 and 3.5 million kids 6-11, with 49 percent of those viewers watching television Friday night tuning in to Disney. Among girls, that percentage was even higher, two thirds.

By comparison, the original “HSM” averaged 7.7 million total viewers. The sequel, which aired in August 2007, drew 17.3 million, becoming the No. 2 cable broadcast of all time.

Now comes the part that Disney excels at: saturation. In the coming months, “Camp” will rerun on the network countless times; it already had back-to-back replays on ABC and ABC Family on Saturday and Sunday night, in addition to a feed on Radio Disney and an online version on Disney.com.

The web site delivered its highest-ever one-day traffic earlier this week when the movie became available for stream, and Disney claims that 22 million unique viewers caught “Rock” across at least one of its platforms in the U.S. and Canada, including 6 million tweens, who drove the $500 million in merchandising for the first “HSM.”

There will be more than enough original Disney material to fuel this newest franchise. The network is currently developing the sequel with the same cast, including the three Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. In addition, the brothers’ new series, “J.O.N.A.S.,” and Lovato’s series “Welcome to Mollywood,” are both going into production in September for first quarter 2009 premieres. 

The movie’s success is already being seen online. Yesterday tickets for the Jonas Brothers’ upcoming Madison Square Garden concert had hit more than $1,000 apiece on eBay.

***
Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended June 22:
 
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): USA, TNT, TBS, Spike TV, Discovery.
 
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, TNT, Nick at Nite, TBS, Lifetime.
 
Top movie (18-49s): TNT’s “The Longest Yard” (Sunday, 8:44 p.m.) 1.63 million.
 
Top sporting event (total viewers): TNT’s “Sprint Cup Racing/Sonoma” (Sunday, 4:59 p.m.) 6.02 million.
 
Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 9 and 10 p.m.)
 
Show on the rise: USA’s “In Plain Sight,” Sunday 10 p.m. The drama attracted 2.16 million viewers 25-54, up 14 percent from 1.89 million the previous week.
 
Show on the decline: MTV’s “The Real World,” Wednesday 10 p.m. MTV’s old reliable proved less so, slipping 16 percent week-to-week among viewers 18-49, from 1.72 million to 1.45 million.

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
 Week Ending June 22

Rank

Primetime

Total Day

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

USA

2209

NICK

1697

2

TNT

1661

NAN *

1291

3

NAN

1281

USA

1067

4

LIF

1273

TNT

1020

5

FOXN

1244

ADSM*

986

6

TBSC

1188

TOON

924

7

TOON

1047

LIF

763

8

ESPN

1036

FOXN

715

9

SPK

998

TBSC

707

10

HGTV

994

ESPN

672

11

AEN

992

AEN

595

12

SCIF

963

HALL

581

13

HALL

912

HIST

577

14

FAM

910

DISC

548

15

DISC

894

TRU

547

16

HIST

891

FAM

528

17

FX  

868

HGTV

527

18

TRU

836

SPK

516

19

CMDY

835

CMDY

506

20

AMC

802

FX  

496

21

ESP2

751

FOOD

487

22

CNN

707

CNN

461

23

FOOD

700

AMC

449

24

TLC

670

SCIF

445

25

MTV

649

MTV

412

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
 Week Ending June 22

Rank

Program

Net

(000)

1

Sprint Cup Racing/Sonoma

TNT

4126

2

Golf: U.S. Open     

ESPN

4056

3

Law & Order: CI (Orig)

USA

3494

4

In Plain Sight

USA

3449

5

Army Wives

LIF

3216

6

WWE Entertainment

USA

3208

7

WWE Entertainment

USA

3138

8

Spongebob

NICK

2979

9

Spongebob

NICK

2955

10

Spongebob

NICK

2950

11

Spongebob

NICK

2739

12

Spongebob

NICK

2663

13

Law & Order: SVU

USA

2642

14

Spongebob

NICK

2580

15

Back At The Barnyard

NICK

2565

16

Family Guy

ADSM

2562

17

Spongebob

NICK

2524

18

Spongebob

NICK

2493

19

Mighty B!

NICK

2491

20

Spongebob

NICK

2483

21

Law & Order: SVU

USA

2458

22