Olympics advantage: NBC to promote 16 new shows

Entertainment

Olympics advantage: NBC to promote 16 new shows

Close

NBC plans to premiere 16 new shows in prime time starting this fall.

29 June,2012 07:30 pm

NBC plans to premiere 16 new shows in prime time starting this fall, by far the biggest crop of launches for any network for the next TV season and one of the biggest new slates in recent years.The large number of new shows is a function of the networks status as the ratings cellar-dweller among the big four broadcast networks - the others are CBS, News Corps Fox, and Walt Disney Cos ABC. But the amount of new shows also has the potential to overwhelm viewers.You are dividing your attention so many more ways. Its like having 10 children instead of two. How do they all get attention? said media industry consultant Adam Armbruster ofEckstein, Summers, Armbruster & Co.NBC, owned by Comcast Corp, is airing six new shows in the fall. The 10 other new shows it ordered will debut through early next year. This compares with third-place networkABC, which is adding 10 new shows to its lineup. First-place CBS and second-place Fox will add six and five newcomers, respectively.Given the number of entertainment options vying for viewers time - from television and movies to videogames and online video- marketing is critical. Properly promoting a new show to make it stand out from the crowd is almost as important as the show itself. In this regard, NBC has a strong platform to leverage in the Olympic games, which the network will air over the course of about three weeks beginning on July 27.Youll see during those 17 days we are going to try to set up the fall launch on NBC prime time as well as we can, saidNBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke during a media event on Wednesday.But that will not come cheap. For starters - while it is a common practice - taking up air time for in-house promotions during a large event like the Olympics means NBC is likely eating in to advertising inventory it could have sold to someone else, said Steve Ridge, president of the media strategy group at Frank N. Magid Associates. The network is, in essence, buying advertising with its promotional investment just like any other advertiser would, Ridge said.Beyond that, NBC will have to choose between spending equally to promote each program or devoting the bulk of its marketing dollars to a few programs and hope others break out, industry analysts said.No one has an unlimited bucket of cash for promotion, Armbruster said.Len Fogge, NBC Entertainments president of marketing, said promotions for new shows airing during the Olympics will not cut into any advertising dollars and NBC is not taking up any more promotional time this year than it has in past Olympics. And Burke noted during the Wednesday event that NBC is on track to generate $100 million more in ad revenue than it did during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but could not guarantee the network would make money this year from the games.OLYMPICS ADVANTAGE?After Comcast acquired control of NBC in a $30 billion deal in 2010, the company chose Bob Greenblatt, who earned a reputation as a programming Svengali with shows like Dexter and Weeds at pay-TV network Showtime, to rebuild the network. At NBC, Greenblatt inherited only two legitimate hits: singing competition The Voice and Sunday Night Football. That left him with plenty of holes to fill and few places to reach a largenumber of viewers to promote new entries.Thats where the Olympics comes into play.While NBC lost money broadcasting the 2010 Olympics and said it may not turn a profit in London, the games provide an unmatched platform for promoting new programs and creating buzz, said Ridge, from Frank N. Magid Associates.In 2008, the summer Olympics broadcast averaged 27.7 million viewers in prime time, or about 20 million more viewers than the 7.3 million NBC drew on average in prime time last season, according to Nielsen. Its most-watched show, Sunday Night Football, averaged 21.2 million viewers per broadcast.