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syndie retirement
Healthy #s but no wake-up call for game shows
By Heidi Vogt
When “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” went into syndication, it was seen as a natural move for a show that had done so well in primetime, especially among older viewers. It couldn't miss.
There was also some hope that "Millionaire" would shake up fuddy-duddy game category over which “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” have reigned for years.
"Millionaire" is performing as expected in its first season in syndication, not as well as the older dowagers in ratings but growing at a respectable pace.
What hasn't happened is that hoped-for shakeup.
Nothing's shook.
Mainstay shows such as “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” are holding steady at last year's respectable levels, but the lower- ranking shows are struggling as before. Perhaps more worrisome, no new games show are in the works to take their place.
Shows such as "The Weakest Link" can tumble even further with little fear of cancellation. Nothing is riding on "Millionaire's" coattails the way new gameshows did when it debuted in primetime.
"Millionaire" posted a household rating of 2.7 for the week ending Oct. 27, up from a 2.4 rating the week before, according to Nielsen Media Research, and that pleases Buena Vista Television, which produces the show.
“Game shows don’t typically burst out of the starting gate with this huge head of steam. It takes time,” says Lloyd Komesar, senior vice president for strategic research at Buena Vista Television. " Viewers in the beginning of the year have potpourri of things to choose from."
“Millionaire’s” steady growth is in keeping with a category where stability is valued more than exciting Nielsen spikes.
“I think there’s a pretty good shot that all of the shows that are on the air right now will return for next year,” says Bill Carroll, vice president and director of programming for Katz Television.
This is despite the fact that almost all syndicated game shows have dropped in the national ratings, and some have been limping along at household ratings of 1.8 (“The Weakest Link”). This is because there are simply no new game shows in development for syndication, nothing to take the failing shows' places.
Two years ago, the network versions of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and “The Weakest Link” seemed to be reinventing the game show for a younger audience. But the audience that watches syndicated game shows tends to be older, generally the 25-54 demo, and less impressed by hype.
“The game show is a genre that’s been around forever in syndication, and it does what it does,” says Joanne Milano, vice president and media research director at R.J. Palmer.
She doesn’t expect anything to reinvigorate the genre anytime soon. She's not even convinced that it necessarily needs reinvigorating.
As for the folks over at “Millionaire,” they’re ecstatic to be one of the few shows really adding audience this season (this is Millionaire's first season). The show is in 90 percent of the country, and getting a 3.5 rating in metered markets.
“We’ve got good growth in an era where a tenth of a rating is hard to come by,” says Komesar.
November 8, 2002© 2002 Media Life
-Heidi Vogt is a staff writer for Media Life.
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