MediaSavant
03-27-2003, 05:08 AM
From the Hollywood Reporter, a general report on the state of cable:
Turner touts cable's gains
March 27, 2003
By Andrew Grossman
NEW YORK -- Turner Broadcasting System came out swinging Wednesday, crowing over TNT and TBS Superstation's ratings successes in first-quarter 2003 and stressing that the broadcast networks continue to lose market share to cable networks.
"The gap still remains but is getting shorter and shorter," TBS chief research officer Jack Wakshlag said of the competitive landscape between broadcast and cable networks in a conference call with reporters. "The trends do not appear to have been affected by any significant degree by reality programming or anything else the broadcast networks seem to be doing. They do seem to be losing two share points a year to cable."
Those remarks drew a scoff from David Poltrack, executive vp research and planning at CBS, as well as from an unlikely source: Lifetime Television senior vp research Tim Brooks. Both executives argued that Turner's comparisons were misleading.
"I wouldn't rule broadcast out as a competitive threat," Brooks said.
Poltrack was even harsher, saying the year-to-year statistics "have become more and more meaningless" because of the advent of the 200-plus channel universe. Outside of the news networks this quarter, he argued that among the top 10 ad-billing cable networks, "You have a couple of networks doing well and a couple of networks not doing well."
Wakshlag also made note of Lifetime's 25% plunge in primetime viewership from first-quarter 2002. Brooks responded by saying the reality shows that have done so much business lately for the broadcast networks -- including Fox's "American Idol" and ABC's "The Bachelorette" -- skew heavily female and thus draw from Lifetime's target audience.
Wakshlag did have plenty to brag about for TNT and TBS. TNT, which is well ahead in the primetime ratings race, grew by 14% in viewership and ratings to a 1.6 rating, averaging 2.36 million viewers. As usual, Nickelodeon is the top cable dog in the total-day measure.
TNT has benefited heavily by its six runs of "Law & Order" reruns in primetime, the success of a strong theatrical movie package and its huge NBA All-Star Game ratings, which Wakshlag said gave the network's regular NBA game coverage a shot in the arm.
As for other cable networks, A&E continues to slide, losing 9% of its audience in the quarter. Wakshlag blamed broad losses for "Biography" and sluggish ratings for the network's mysteries and such off-network shows as "Third Watch" and "Crossing Jordan."
USA Network lost 12% of its audience, primarily because of weak theatrical movie ratings and lower ratings for original series "The Dead Zone" from a year ago, he said.
By contrast, FX rose 14% as "The Shield" performed well among younger demos. Replacing such older sitcoms as "M*A*S*H" and "Married ... With Children" with movies helped the network as well.
Sci Fi Channel had an especially strong quarter, growing 36% with its original shows like "Stargate SG-1" performing strongly.
TBS was flat, but Wakshlag said it was skewing young with an average age of 33.4.
Otherwise, Wakshlag said MTV's "The Osbournes" faded somewhat "but is still strong," and TLC's "Trading Spaces" continues to carry that network.
There were other downward surprises among the cable nets: TNN's World Wrestling Entertainment programming lost 22% from a year ago. ABC Family continued its slide, losing 35% of its primetime audience, according to Wakshlag. Movies and repurposed shows from the ABC broadcast network are performing poorly on its cable cousin.
Kids programming continued to perform well across the board as Nickelodeon and Disney Channel were up -- Disney Channel in particular is enjoying strong numbers from its new live-action comedy "That's So Raven." Cartoon Network slid a bit, but Wakshlag says ratings among boys 6-11 are stronger.
According to Turner's figures, ad-supported cable channels are beating ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox combined in the quarter, with cable averaging a 46.7 share to the Big Four's 43.7. Cable's share rose from 44.8, while the broadcasters' share fell from 45.2. Compared with the seven broadcast networks (including the WB Network, UPN and Pax TV), cable closed the gap from 5.7 share points to 2.1 points, according to Turner's analysis of Nielsen Media Research figures.
Turner touts cable's gains
March 27, 2003
By Andrew Grossman
NEW YORK -- Turner Broadcasting System came out swinging Wednesday, crowing over TNT and TBS Superstation's ratings successes in first-quarter 2003 and stressing that the broadcast networks continue to lose market share to cable networks.
"The gap still remains but is getting shorter and shorter," TBS chief research officer Jack Wakshlag said of the competitive landscape between broadcast and cable networks in a conference call with reporters. "The trends do not appear to have been affected by any significant degree by reality programming or anything else the broadcast networks seem to be doing. They do seem to be losing two share points a year to cable."
Those remarks drew a scoff from David Poltrack, executive vp research and planning at CBS, as well as from an unlikely source: Lifetime Television senior vp research Tim Brooks. Both executives argued that Turner's comparisons were misleading.
"I wouldn't rule broadcast out as a competitive threat," Brooks said.
Poltrack was even harsher, saying the year-to-year statistics "have become more and more meaningless" because of the advent of the 200-plus channel universe. Outside of the news networks this quarter, he argued that among the top 10 ad-billing cable networks, "You have a couple of networks doing well and a couple of networks not doing well."
Wakshlag also made note of Lifetime's 25% plunge in primetime viewership from first-quarter 2002. Brooks responded by saying the reality shows that have done so much business lately for the broadcast networks -- including Fox's "American Idol" and ABC's "The Bachelorette" -- skew heavily female and thus draw from Lifetime's target audience.
Wakshlag did have plenty to brag about for TNT and TBS. TNT, which is well ahead in the primetime ratings race, grew by 14% in viewership and ratings to a 1.6 rating, averaging 2.36 million viewers. As usual, Nickelodeon is the top cable dog in the total-day measure.
TNT has benefited heavily by its six runs of "Law & Order" reruns in primetime, the success of a strong theatrical movie package and its huge NBA All-Star Game ratings, which Wakshlag said gave the network's regular NBA game coverage a shot in the arm.
As for other cable networks, A&E continues to slide, losing 9% of its audience in the quarter. Wakshlag blamed broad losses for "Biography" and sluggish ratings for the network's mysteries and such off-network shows as "Third Watch" and "Crossing Jordan."
USA Network lost 12% of its audience, primarily because of weak theatrical movie ratings and lower ratings for original series "The Dead Zone" from a year ago, he said.
By contrast, FX rose 14% as "The Shield" performed well among younger demos. Replacing such older sitcoms as "M*A*S*H" and "Married ... With Children" with movies helped the network as well.
Sci Fi Channel had an especially strong quarter, growing 36% with its original shows like "Stargate SG-1" performing strongly.
TBS was flat, but Wakshlag said it was skewing young with an average age of 33.4.
Otherwise, Wakshlag said MTV's "The Osbournes" faded somewhat "but is still strong," and TLC's "Trading Spaces" continues to carry that network.
There were other downward surprises among the cable nets: TNN's World Wrestling Entertainment programming lost 22% from a year ago. ABC Family continued its slide, losing 35% of its primetime audience, according to Wakshlag. Movies and repurposed shows from the ABC broadcast network are performing poorly on its cable cousin.
Kids programming continued to perform well across the board as Nickelodeon and Disney Channel were up -- Disney Channel in particular is enjoying strong numbers from its new live-action comedy "That's So Raven." Cartoon Network slid a bit, but Wakshlag says ratings among boys 6-11 are stronger.
According to Turner's figures, ad-supported cable channels are beating ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox combined in the quarter, with cable averaging a 46.7 share to the Big Four's 43.7. Cable's share rose from 44.8, while the broadcasters' share fell from 45.2. Compared with the seven broadcast networks (including the WB Network, UPN and Pax TV), cable closed the gap from 5.7 share points to 2.1 points, according to Turner's analysis of Nielsen Media Research figures.