Let’s face it: if there were infinite dollars in networks’ marketing budgets, then every show would get a Five Star campaign with a huge push to help its launch.
But we all know that’s not the case. Every season there are shows that get to fly first-class, and then there are the ones way back there in coach.
The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday tried to read the marketing tea leaves to discern which shows are getting the love and which shows are just getting by at each of the networks.
ABC is clearly putting its eggs in the Shondaland basket, with a new “#TGIT: Thank God It’s Thursday” campaign. The network is hoping the addition of How To Get Away With Murder to Thursday nights—alongside Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal— will help it score a hat trick with female viewers. ABC has even cut a TGIT preview special with stars Ellen Pompeo [Grey’s], Kerry Washington [Scandal], and Viola Davis [Murder].
One of the big CBS stories this season is the arrival of Thursday Night Football, whose launch last week featured ads for NCIS: New Orleans and Madam Secretary.
The magazine hinted that NBC had yet to unholster its really big marketing guns, saving them for State of Affairs, which doesn’t debut until mid-November.
Fox Television Group COO—and PromaxBDA Board co-chair—Joe Earley told the trade that he thinks viewers “get a feeling for how much a network is behind a show.” In his network’s case, viewers probably sense that Gotham is this season’s favorite child, which had a large presence at this year’s Comic-Con fan fest in San Diego, and has been hard to miss in print and on television.
The CW has focused its resources on two very different freshman series: The Flash and Jane the Virgin. For the former, recent stunts have involved Flash-branded bike messengers and an Uber activation. There’s also a one-minute theatrical trailer that’s been greeting movie-goers at some cinemas. CW marketing boss Rick Haskins said the network was trying to take the best of feature film campaign tactics and scale them for television.
As for Jane the Virgin, the network is riding a wave of good reviewers and buzz for star Gina Rodriguez.
Read More: The Hollywood Reporter
Brief Take: With viewers looking at an ever-expanding menu of programming options, networks have to ration marketing dollars wisely to avoid devoting resources to programs that probably won’t catch on with audiences.
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