The network is setting out to change all that as it heads into this spring’s upfront ad market, aiming to morph into a network for young men along the lines of Spike, Comedy Central and Adult Swim.

Media buyers think it's the right strategy. They say there's enough room for another men’s network because so many advertisers are chasing after this tough-to-find demographic.

G4's transformation has already begun. It started airing reruns of NBC’s superhero drama “Heroes” last fall, and it will begin running repeats of ABC’s “Lost” this fall. That should do two things: bump up G4’s ratings, which are tiny, while better positioning it as a guy's network, since both shows have a strong male skew.

“My personal gripe with the network is that it didn’t know what it was,” says Dave Cassaro, president of network advertising sales at Comcast, which owns G4. “It was just a conglomeration of stuff. Now the brand is coalescing around our programs.”

The network’s identity
G4 faces plenty of challenges as it works to create its new identity, and critical to that process will be in coming up with an original signature show that viewers and advertisers identify with the network, as Comedy Central has done with “South Park,” for example. It may be the single most important step for a cable network out to build itself as a distinct brand.

“They need a franchise show that viewers will recognize and will help marketers understand what the network is about,” says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director at Horizon Media. “They don’t have that just yet.”

The network’s target audience
G4 has been targeting men for years. But now its focus is clearly men 18-34.

“It’s a difficult target to reach on TV, so that’s what they’re selling,” says Jordan Breslow, broadcast research director at MediaCom. “Their concentration of that demo is very strong.”

The network’s ratings
G4 is a tiny network, ranking No. 50 in primetime among cable networks in 18-34s in first quarter and even lower among older demographics.

Yet G4 has several things working in its favor, and one is that its primetime audience in its core 18-34 audience was up 3 percent in first quarter over the same period in 2007, to an average 35,000 viewers. The network was up 19 percent on an all-day basis, to 31,000 viewers.

But G4’s big advantage is that its small audience isn’t a deal-breaker for media buyers because it targets a demographic advertisers have a tough time reaching on TV and because it's growing in that demographic.

The network’s competitive set
As G4 focuses more on young men it’ll compete more intensely with male networks like Spike, Comedy and Adult Swim but also big sports networks like ESPN.

What’s new for 2008/09
G4 is continuing with a few shows that have recently brought it some attention and lifted its ratings like “Ninja Warrior,” an obstacle course competition from Japan, and “Attack of the Show,” a newsmagazine focused on popular culture.

In addition to adding reruns of network hits “Lost” and "Heroes," G4 will air an original documentary in June called “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” about two guys trying to break the highest score record on the old videogame “Donkey Kong.” This summer it's adding more original shows like “Hurl,” a reality show about eating competitions.

The network’s upfront outlook
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent: 3.5.

G4 will likely see a boost in its ratings with upcoming shows like “Lost” and it’s clearing up its focus on men. But it’ll take time for its new identity to take hold, and its small size, while not a turnoff in itself, means advertisers often buy it as a complement to male-focused buys on bigger networks like Spike and ESPN.

“People aren’t buying G4 for pure reach,” says Cassaro. “They’re buying it to hit a segment of the audience that rounds out their buy. We’re a good addition to a young male buy.”

^{Links to past upfront stories:  
HGTV
DIY
Hallmark
truTV
FX
AMC}