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this February: nada, zip
Let broadcast networks duke it out with cheesy stunts
By Elizabeth White
The February sweeps are near and already we're getting good sniffs of what sorts of stunt programming and primetime specials the broadcast networks are cooking up.
But what happens to the cable networks?
Do they go into hibernation during sweeps?
Do they counter-program the networks?
Do they pull some stunts of their own? Do they even care?
The answer is no to all of the above.
"As far as cable is concerned, it’s not our battle," says Tim Brooks, senior vice president of research at Lifetime.
The reason is simple. Sweeps results are used to set the ad rates for local TV stations. Broadcasters, wanting to boost revenues for their affiliates, will quite understandably spare little expense to put on all manner of gimcrack stunts and promotions to pull in viewers for those critical several weeks when Nielsen monitors local viewership.
But cable, having no local stations to worry about, has no such incentives to consider.
At the same time, though, cable networks understandably don’t want to lose audience to broadcast networks.
But what to do? The answer amounts to nothing.
Cable follows some simple rules: Trust that your audiences won't be lured away. Stay steady, doing what you always do. Believe that jiggering your schedule, as the broadcasters do for the four sweeps periods a year, in the long run does more damage to viewership than good.
That strategy appears to work.
Generally, cable loses little to broadcasters during sweeps.
What audience shifting takes place tends to be among competing networks as they attempt to outdo one another.
That, coupled with the increased difficulty of generating promotional attention during the heavily promoted sweeps, keeps cable from seriously counter-programming the broadcast sweeps.
"We try to be consistent to our brand year round," says Lifetime's Brooks. "We pay attention to when the sweeps are. We tend to avoid premieres. We run original programs, and we pay attention to the holidays."
For Lifetime, that means a lot of stunt programming around Valentine’s Day, which happens to fall during February sweeps.
But while Valentine’s Day is important to Lifetime, it isn’t as important for a network like Animal Planet. Thus the decision to run special programs during broadcast sweeps depends entirely on the network.
"It’s a very individual decision for cable to run counter-programming during sweeps. There is no pattern," says Aaron Cohen, director of broadcast at Horizon Media. "Cable has decided that there are times that are beneficial to gathering large audiences."
And as Cohen points out, these times are not necessarily during broadcast sweeps.
"Discovery’s ‘Shark Week’ is an outstanding example that happens independent of anything that happens on broadcast or cable," says Cohen.
Usually appearing in August, "Shark Week" takes advantage of the fact that very little else is going on at the time. One major reason that cable networks don’t compete during sweeps is that the broadcast networks take up much of the publicity and advertising space.
"It’s more a matter of promotional opportunities than audiences," says Brooks. "During sweeps there’s a tremendous amount of promotional noise for the broadcasters."
This February, USA will be running one original movie, "The Last Producer," and The Cartoon Network will run a "PowerPuff Girls" spoof of the Beatles, called "Meet the Beat Alls." Near Valentine’s Day, Lifetime will be showing a selection of movies and the special "Love Letters of a Lifetime."
-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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