NBC Preview Strokes Buyers the Right Way

NBC’s highly promoted announcement of its prime time schedule through summer 2009 generated goodwill with media folks last week.

“I know there are cynics who like to bash everything, but it was one of the better presentations I’ve seen in a long time,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vp, audience analysis, for Magna Global (via Mediaweek).

In addition to announcing its new prime time shows, NBC also offered some insights into its future programming decisions. For example, the 8-9 p.m. hour will be programmed with family oriented shows, regardless of whether they are scripted, game shows or reality shows (My Name Is Earl and 30 Rock will continue to air at 8:00, questions of their appeal and appropriateness to family audiences notwithstanding).  The 9-10 p.m. hour will be for blockbuster shows like Heroes and Deal or No Deal. The 10-11 p.m. hour will air more adult-oriented series. NBC also said that it will replace shows that aren’t working with shows from similar genres - so if a comedy flops, the network will replace it with another comedy rather than sticking a reality show in and calling it good.

Steve Lanzano, CEO of media agency MPG’s U.S. operations, says he applauds NBC for being proactive, pointing out that announcing programming so far in advance will allow clients to get more easily involved at the script level with branded integrations.

On the other hand, he says, it will still be a “gross ratings points futures market,” in that there is no way to know now what buyers will pay for a show that won’t air for months or even a year.

NBCU’s president of sales and marketing, Michael Pilot, says NBC may not do much incremental business between now and the upfront, but he hopes that advertisers will see the 52-week year of programming as making the network easier to work with and easier to buy.  “Some [buyer or advertiser] may see a show we are planning to put on in 2009 and we may be able begin a dialogue or partnership now to get them involved in that show.”

In its presentation last week, NBC announced four new shows for the fall and four more for the winter/spring 2009. It is the first slate of shows developed under the watch of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios co-chair Ben Silverman, who is known for developing advertiser-friendly shows, writes AdAge.