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E! Entertainment and Esquire Network President Adam Stotsky knows what millennial women like to watch.
“The more insight you can have into who your audience is, the better you can produce products that will be of relevance and of interest to them,” Stotsky said.
Which means he also knows how millennial women like to watch.
From “breathing the E! brand” into the network’s recently acquired People’s Choice Awards, to launching new series such as Life with Kylie with social media guru and Kardashian sister Kylie Jenner, to developing shows like E! News’ The Rundown for Snapchat, it’s no surprise that the pop culture powerhouse is on the cutting edge of multi-platform content creation.
“The experience you see on television on E! is really just a fraction of the content that we produce,” he said.
About two years ago the network realized much of its audience was getting information from their mobile phones first, and decided to consolidate the E! News television group and the E! Online platform for a singular E! News unit led by the digital management team.
“We put as much focus, if not more, on what we’re producing digitally and socially as we do every night on 7 o’clock on the linear E! TV feed,” Stotsky said. “That has been a watershed reorientation for us, and it’s realized itself in an incredibly deep and engaged relationship with millennial women around celebrity pop culture news and information.”
Stotsky’s background in marketing makes him acutely aware of the impact effective messaging delivered through engaging platforms that resonate with the target audience can have on an organization, especially as he’s moved up the ladder to E!’s top position.
He previously served as the president of marketing for NBC Entertainment, and as the general manager of G4 before being named president of Esquire Network in advance of the channel’s 2013 debut. Stotsky quickly moved up to general manager of E! Entertainment in 2014, and was promoted to president of E! Entertainment in 2016.
Throughout the process he’s expanded his vision to view the business in it’s totality, overseeing all facets of the entertainment and lifestyle networks, including programming, development, production, marketing, communications, research, acquisitions and digital.
Stotsky, along with Viceland Co-President and GM Guy Slattery and DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Consumer Products President Diane Nelson, will discuss their paths from marketer to corporate leader during the session “From CMO to CEO” at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2017 on Tuesday, June 6 at the J.W. Marriott at LA Live.
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“I’ve always felt like where I thrive is serving as a bit of a conductor of an orchestra, versus playing any individual instrument,” he said.
With that in mind, he’s always thinking about the big picture when it comes to E!’s audience, and new ways to create engaging stories that are optimized for whatever platform they’re using at the time.
“Taking linear content content and trying to force it through nonlinear platforms like Snapchat or Instagram, or even Facebook Live for that matter, is not really going to work,” he said.
Instead E! would run, say, a four-minute story of the three hottest pop culture trends of the day for The Rundown, crafted specifically for Snapchat, and turn to creative partners like Jenner who can leverage their personal social media presence to drive the brand voice.
While much of E! content is reality, the network is also developing scripted content, with The Royals which takes a fictional look at life behind the Buckingham Palace gates, and The Arrangement, about arranged relationships at the Hollywood studio level, being picked for a second season.
“It allows us to go into places where unscripted cameras can not,” Stotsky said.
The expanded slate also attracts viewers within the female millennial demographic who may not have thought about E!, and migrate them into the brand.
“Scripted will more than likely be a contained part of our schedule but if we find a good idea out there we’ll find a place to air it.”
When it comes to developing new content, Stotsky looks for fresh, novel stories with that are buzz-worthy and provide insight into pop culture, celebrities and fame.
“Gossip, who’s dating who, movies, TV music … it’s what our audience is deeply passionate about. It’s what they tweet about, it’s what they post about, it’s what they get together around over bottles of wine and pizza around, every weekend.
Unlike movies, which are more like a date, TV shows are really like a marriage, transcending eight, 12, 22 weeks—or even 10 years in the case Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
“We want to build relationships that last,” Stotsky said.
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