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‘Bionic Woman,’ ‘Caveman’ Score Meaningless Early Buzz

NBC’s The Bionic Woman and ABC’s Caveman lead the list of fall shows that are receiving pre-season buzz, according to the broadcast networks’ collective tracking study. However, the buzz about the shows so far is only about “awareness,” say network executives, and is not necessarily an indication of what shows will be most watched.

The TV tracking study has only about a 70 percent accuracy rate, writes MediaPost, and the questions can be relatively simple - or even misleading. For example, one question asks: Have you ever heard of the Bionic Woman? This season’s show, of course, is a remake of the series that ran on ABC and then NBC in the seventies, so answers could be skewed based on people’s knowledge of the earlier show.

Last year, a Brandimensions study of pre-season TV showed that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip got the most buzz early on, with 22.2 percent of the online audience talking about it in online discussions. Heros only scored 9.3 percent. Studio 60, though it generated positive reviews, slowly tanked in viewers and was not renewed for this year, while Heros was perhaps the biggest hit of the season.
The broadcast networks haven’t fully ramped up their marketing plans for fall shows yet. Heavy print, radio, and outdoor campaigns tend to come after Labor Day.

ABC’s campaigns have been the most aggressive so far, with an outdoor effort in New York and Los Angeles for Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money.

Fox has launched an outdoor campaign in Los Angeles for its new drama K-Ville and a comedy called Back to You starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Outdoor ads in NYC on buses and transit shelters are to come, with other cities following. Fox’s executive vp of marketing, Chris Carlisle, has just left the company to head to lead theatrical marketing for New Line Cinema.

NBC and CBS have yet to launch campaigns for fall shows save for on-air promos and, for NBC, an outdoor campaign in New York for Sunday Night Football.