CBS, like most networks, has a long-running marketing strategy of using CBS airtime to sell CBS content.

But each year, more and more people skip ad breaks and ignore on-air promotions. So this fall, CBS expanded its approach in order to more effectively get the work out about its upcoming thriller and four comedies.

Below, Brief goes through CBS’ promo strategy headed into its premieres next week.

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CBS’ strategy is a solid one that the network has used for years: use CBS to sell CBS. Helped by the summer success of limited-run series, “Under the Dome,” CBS has run promo after promo for its new comedies “Mom,” “The Crazy Ones,” “We Are Men” and “The Millers,” as well as its freshman drama “Hostages.”

CBS is sticking with the traditional fall-launch plan, premiering most of its new content within one week (September 23-30), with only one show premiering the following Thursday.

However, aware of digital video recorders’ impact on skipped ads and a decreasing reliance on live viewing, CBS also has taken its new programming online. When broadcasters began coming out with promos and trailers for its new fall series, CBS released similar trailers, but also posted longer behind-the-scenes trailers online.

“The Crazy Ones” got a big push elsewhere as well. Print and banner ads proclaimed two things: comedy and Robin Williams’ return to TV:

TV vets Williams and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”‘s Sarah Michelle Gellar made “The Crazy Ones” a solid bet, so CBS positioned it with another new comedy “The Millers,” anchored by “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” on Thursday nights. Key art and outdoor ads for “The Crazy Ones” put most of its stake in Williams – sometimes multiple times per billboard.

Similarly, the network created a two-hour comedy block on Monday nights for “We Are Men” and “Mom,” using “How I Met Your Mother” and “2 Broke Girls” as lead-ins at 8 and 9 p.m., respectively. “Mom” put its faith in its creator, Chuck Lorre, who also is behind mega-hits “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men,” and released promos to that effect.

Lorre’s half-hour comedy “Mom,” starring Anna Faris and Allison Janney, will be the first new show to premiere on CBS this fall. The network, besides getting the word out on its own air, also hoped to reach younger viewers by partnering with online companies for memes or GIFs, and worked with someecards for some heartfelt fun.

CBS’ sole new thriller, “Hostages” is being promoted almost as if it’s a movie release, with theatrical trailers and larger-than-life story, even using cinematic character posters as key art, selling the show’s big stars, Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott.

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