The ABC's of HD Promotion
Programmers tread fine line promoting originals in high-def
by George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 10/12/2008 8:00:00 PM
As big basic cable networks battle for rating points in an increasingly difficult ad market, most of them can now point to the fact that many of the highest profile original shows are in high-def.
“All of our new big ticket items are now in high-def,” said A&E Network senior vice president of marketing Guy Slattery, echoing sentiments expressed by several major basic cable networks. “We have been doing that for some time. It is clearly a big part of our network and the way everything is going.”
So far this year, A&E has conducted major marketing campaigns around the availability of two high-profile programs, The Andromeda Strain and The Cleaner on HD video on demand. But for the most part, promotional efforts to tout the fact that viewers can now watch their favorite cable originals in HD have been relatively muted.
While all the major basic networks promote the availability of their HD programming and all work closely with multichannel providers to market simulcast feeds, examples of promotions exclusively focusing on the fact that new dramas, comedies or major entertainment shows are available in HD remain relatively rare. In contrast, sports and documentary networks regularly highlight their HD productions.
In part, that reflects the nature of the programming at the biggest basic cable entertainment networks. Unlike sports or natural history fare, where an HD image makes the action much more exciting and vivid, viewers turn to dramas, comedies and reality fare for storylines, characters and entertainment, not picture resolution or the ability to see every detail of their favorite star's face.
But the state of the HD market and the competition between the major multichannel providers to ramp up their HD offerings is also playing a big role in the way these programs and simulcast feeds are marketed and promoted.
For starters, most homes still do not have HD sets and many simulcasts have much smaller distribution than the parent network.
“From a marketing standpoint, it is a challenge,” Slattery said. “Not every system is carrying A&E in HD.”
As a result, A&E will place more emphasis on HD in local marketing campaigns for areas where the high-definition feed is carried and it will give HD a less prominent role in national campaigns reaching many viewers who do not have high-def sets.
Another major issue driving the promotion of HD fare is the competitive landscape among multichannel providers. “The landscape is still being shaped by DirecTV's announcement at [the International Consumer Electronics Show] in 2007 that they would have between 100 and 150 HD channels,” said Will Flannery, vice president of advanced services affiliates sales and marketing at the Fox Cable Networks. “To stay competitive everyone has to replicate their standard basic lineup in HD.”
That has helped a number of basic networks quickly gain traction with HD homes. Flannery expects FX's HD simulcast feed to grow to about 14 million homes over the next year. But in the race to add tonnage to HD offerings, many operators have been emphasizing the overall size of their packages over the fact that particular networks or shows are in HD.
“I have not seen distributors do a lot of breakout promotions of a specific network,” said Coleman Breland, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Turner Network Sales. “Instead they are marketing the depth and breadth of their HD offerings.”
In a period where HD feeds still reach a relatively limited number of households, executives at a number of programming groups noted that affiliate sales are playing a central role in HD promotion.
Jeff Gregor, the chief marketing officer at TBS and TNT, said when Turner Broadcasting System launched an HD simulcast feed for TNT and then TBS it heavily promoted the HD launch. “We made a concerted effort to talk about how everyone's favorite programs were now available in high-def,” Gregor said.
While Turner continues to tag programs as being available in HD, Gregor said that promotional focus has now shifted to affiliate sales, which works closely with MSOs that want to promote the HD feeds.
On the affiliate sales side, Breland said, “We are acutely aware of the importance of HD and always make sure it is part of a promotion, whether it be for Major League Baseball or TBS's [Tyler Perry's] House of Pain. It is very important for us. But we don't go to the marketplace with just a TBS HD promotion. HD is always part of a larger effort.”
A similar story can be found at Fox. “The strategy is really being driven by affiliate sales,” said Todd Schoen, senior vice president of affiliate marketing and ad sales, who added that the focus is generally on its entire roster. “We have done some FX specific HD promotions but the real driver is what we are doing as a cable group in HD.”
The fact that HD-related promotions are often done through affiliate sales or as part of larger marketing campaigns, doesn't mean HD is a relatively minor part of the promotional picture, the programming executives stress.
For starters, many networks now shoot promotions in high-definition, despite additional production costs, and whenever possible they promote HD feeds with cross-channel spots and other tactics.
Like Turner and Fox, NBC Universal also works extensively with operators to promote its HD feeds. USA Network, for example, did a promotional spot for cable operators with the message “see our characters like you've never seen them before.” It's about to launch a similar spot about USA HD on DirecTV. The various networks also mention the availability of a show in HD at the beginning of the broadcast.
More HD promotions are likely as additional networks ramp up production. Jerry Leo, Bravo senior vice president of program strategy and acquisition, said the network is just beginning to run original fare in HD, with Shear Genius — its first show to be shot in HD — bowing in June. By the end of 2008, Leo expects about 16% of their originals or about 35 hours to have been shot in true HD.
“We will be ramping up big in 2009, with over 90 hours” he notes, pushing the proportion of native HD content up to 42%. As that happens, Bravo's HD promotional efforts are also scheduled to expand. “The real shift will come in 2009,” he said.
The growth of HD VOD offerings is also likely to push more promotional efforts tied to cable originals.
Jamia Bigalow, vice president of affiliates marketing and ad sales at Fox Cable Networks, said that besides the promotional support they supply for their HD feeds, the programmer also works with affiliate partners to promote its HD on-demand fare.
“HD VOD is a point of competitive differentiation for our cable partners and we do everything we can to support them with that,” with cross channel spots designed to drive people to their HD VOD platform and promotions on their barker channels, she said.
Such efforts can help operators and programmers. A&E's Slattery said the promotional campaign for Andromeda Strain on demand in standard-definition and HD boosted overall ratings. “The ratings for the linear premiere were higher on both standard-def and the HD feed,” he said.
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