This fall, NBC is launching a thriller, reincarnating a TV legend, revisiting a 1960s detective and breathing life into a literary character – not to mention launching a slew of shows starting midseason.
Luckily for NBC, the broadcaster has sister networks and primetime shows galore, so each of its fall TV shows cross-promoting its brethren.NBC’s summer primetime, featuring America’s Got Talent, lent a hand as well.
Below, Brief goes through NBC’s promo strategy as the network kicks off a very busy October.
NBC
NBC has a tall order, launching six shows over a one-month period. Instead of premiering all of its new programming over one week (we’re looking at you, CBS) or even using the first week to promote the second, NBC’s taking the long view, premiering its new fall shows between September 23 – October 25. Then, after “Sunday Night Football” has wrapped in January, the entire night will get revamped.
To do all this, NBC called upon its cable network partners. Utilizing its popular new celeb game show, “Hollywood Game Night,” NBC filled its couch with NBC stars past and present, such as stars from “SNL” or “The Office,” but also from new series such as “Sean Saves the World” or “About a Boy.”
Using a similar tactic, throughout September’s “Million Second Quiz,” Ryan Seacrest threw to NBC stars such as “Ironside’s” Blair Underwood or “Parks & Recreation’s” Nick Offerman to pose questions to contestants during primetime.
Perhaps the network’s biggest star of cross-promotion is Sean Hayes of “Sean Saves the World.” Not only did he appear on “Million Second Quiz” and “Hollywood Game Night,” he also presented the NBC’s new shows on the “NBC Primetime Preview Show” this August.
Scheduling aggressively, NBC has an almost entirely new Thursday night comedy lineup (“Welcome to the Family,” “Sean Saves the World” and “The Michael J. Fox Show”), keeping “Parks & Recreation” in place at 8 p.m., and it’s slated new series across the board in the 10:00 p.m. timeslot. To promote its already critically-approved “Blacklist”— which will be the first of NBC’s new shows to launch on Monday, Sept. 23, at 10:00 p.m.—NBC is turning the spotlight on James Spader’s compelling turn as the show’s creepy but hyper-intelligent villain.
It’s also pushing the show’s focus on the criminal underworld, running an integrated Facebook game titled, “Are You on the Blacklist.”
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As for Thursdays, NBC pulled its comedy lineup together again for a family-night promo, using still imagery to tie in to its video spot.
And NBC certainly has one thing that could work for or against it: it is the only broadcast network to launch a new drama for Friday. Fox’s “MasterChef Junior” will be replaced late fall, but “Dracula” could help pull a younger crowd into Fridays (or DVR to watch over the weekend). The period piece aims to draw in younger crowds, but not so young it’s stepping on “Vampire Diaries’” toes. NBC kicked it off with dark and sexy key art.
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