​FX’s sister network FXX is now in its terrible twos, an experimental age, as any parent or cable channel president may say.

The FX offshoot launched September 2013 with an extensive PSA campaign to encourage comedy fans to find the new channel. Then the network announced that not only had it secured the rights to air The Simpsons, it would launch with a 12-day binge campaign of nothing but The Simpsons, “Every Simpsons Ever.”

Needless to say, it was a huge success, and The Simpsons is still one of the superstars of FXX, working with comedies like You’re the Worst to secure its comedy brand. Fellow FX series The League, which premieres its new season alongside season two of You’re the Worst Sept. 9, and Archer have also made moves to FXX, showing a growing trust in the newer channel.

According to Adweek, The Simpsons marathon helped FXX go from 93rd place in network ratings among adults 18-49 to 46th place last summer, now all the way up to 29th.

FXX’s success also means that the parent company is accelerating its initial plans for expansion, even though it’s not the most profitable choice for them in the short term.

“It’s cost us money in advertising, to move programming from FX to FXX, because we’re going to earn less money and have lower ratings,” FX CEO John Landgraf told Adweek. “But we’ve done it because we wanted to build that brand.”

Next up, FXX will use animated hit Archer and other comedies to launch the new Cassius and Clay, a futuristic animated comedy starring It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Kaitlin Olson and Lake Bell.

Read more at Adweek.

Brief Take: While series might still premiere on one network and end up the other, Landgraf says that FXX’s brand is now strong enough to debut its own hits, and that constant relationship between the two channels is partly the reason for FXX’s success.

Image courtesy of FXX

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