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CBS stands poised
Strategy of stealing yet more younger viewers
By Kevin Downey
Despite having more than its share of programming misfires in recent years, CBS is on a slow and steady course to be a top-rated network in the prized 18-49 demographic that advertisers favor.
To be sure it won’t overtake NBC’s lead anytime soon.
And any attempt to get 18-49s will be a battle for a network that primarily focuses on adults 25-54.
But CBS stands alone among the Big Four in improving its 18-49 rating this season, with an 8 percent bump, to a 3.9, which puts it in a tie with ABC for third place.
"It’s not so much that they’re doing well as the competition is doing poorly," says Roy Rothstein, vice president and director of national broadcast research at Zenith Media.
"You’ll have NBC and Fox specifically going after 18-49s next season and trying to capture some viewers they lost. CBS will be hard pressed to get them and has so far lucked out because the competition fell apart."
But CBS’s programming plans for next fall, along with its midseason lineup announced last week at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, made it pretty clear that it’s determined to be more competitive in the younger demo.
The way it’s going to compete is by taking a page from NBC’s playbook, meaning it’ll take the shows that work and milk them.
Think for a moment about NBC’s three versions of "Law & Order" and you get the idea.
Two of the key shows that comprise CBS’s strategy are "Survivor" and "CSI."
Both have become huge hits going against NBC’s once-unstoppable Thursday lineup.
And while "Survivor’s" audience is down–the finale of "Survivor: Africa" last Thursday, for example, was off 27 percent from the concluding episode of "The Australian Outback"–it’s still a top-10 show in the 18-49 demographic.
"CSI" is the second-most-watched regularly scheduled show this season, with an average audience of more than 22 million. And it’s become a fixture in the top-five among adults 18-49.
In midseason, CBS will continue the "Survivor" franchise with "Marquesas" beginning Feb. 28. And CBS executives announced a probable "CSI" spinoff to begin next season.
"The strategy is pretty much to stay the course and be fueled by the shows that we already have on the air," explains a CBS spokesperson.
The network’s approach isn’t exactly shattering conventional wisdom about effective TV programming, but it’s one that stands a good chance of working.
Ratings are up and, perhaps more to the point, CBS is pulling in a considerable amount of ad revenue in a depressed economy as its audience gets younger and wealthier.
Recent studies from Magna Global USA found that CBS’s median age fell more than one year to 51.2 in the past season, although it still has the oldest audience. And the median income of CBS’s 18-49 viewers is now second to NBC’s at $58,100.
CBS’s upswing was perhaps most notable during last summer’s upfronts, when the six broadcast networks collectively pulled in $1 billion less than they had the year before. CBS had the slightest decrease of any major network and pulled in $1.45 billion.
Surely the news for CBS has been great. But what’s a rebound without a little bad news?
Highest among CBS’s problems is its trouble with developing new hits.
This year’s "Danny," "Wolf Lake," and "Citizen Baines" have already joined last year’s good-ideas-gone-bad. Remember "Bette?"
Out of eight shows that CBS premiered last fall, three are gone. "Amazing Race" finished its run and probably won’t be back, and two shows–"Education of Max Bickford" and "Ellen"–are still on the air despite being among the lowest rated.
CBS has done well, however, with "The Guardian," a hit in household ratings, and "The Agency," a drama that typically falls within the top-30 among adults 18-49.
"CBS is very calculated in what they put on," says Rothstein. "I don’t think they’re making many mistakes."
CBS has only a few other programs in development.
"Baby Bob" is the talking infant that appeared in a number of commercials last year. The show isn’t scheduled yet.
And "First Monday," which premieres tomorrow and then moves to Friday, stars Joe Mantegna and James Garner as Supreme Court justices in a drama from the executive producer of CBS’s long-running "JAG."
"They made a mistake going with comedies on Friday," says Rothstein. "They had male action shows on Friday last year and they were successful, so why go in the opposite direction?
"I think they’re trying to correct that with ‘First Monday,’ which is the right direction for them."
January 14, 2002
© 2002 Media Life-
Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
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