If I ran NBC and didn’t have to worry about shareholders…
I seem to be writing about NBC a lot lately, though the network is in such disastrous shape it begs discussion. Here’s what we all know: NBC is in last-place. Because of this, and because parent company G.E. is responsible to its shareholders for increasing the value of its stock, NBC recently had to fire 750 employees in a massive restructuring move that included moving MSNBC from its current home in New Jersey to Rockefeller Center with the rest of NBC news. With hindsight we’re able to ask the always important question, “Jersey?”
Additionally, NBC has decided to remove all scripted comedies and dramas from the 8 o’clock hour in lieu of cheaper game shows and reality fare. This will affect the bottom line initially, but one has to wonder if Howie Mandel is really the best choice for a lead-in (over and over and over again).
This restructuring is suppose to put more of a focus on NBC’s digital properties, because, if you haven’t heard, this ‘digital’ thing might really take off. The problem is that even if this is true, someone still has to program at least 21 hours worth of prime-time television each week. After the jump, I think I’ve figured out how to do it…
First and foremost, I think it should noted that what I’m proposing will likely never happen. It won’t happen because it doesn’t generate the kind of money needed to keep shareholders from raising hell. It also won’t happen because if it does, I will lawyer up and sue their asses! Watch yourself Zucker!
Here’s the deal: NBC needs to quit thinking of itself as a broadcast network, because broadcast networks increasingly don’t matter. The counter point to this argument being ABC and CBS who are attracting huge ratings by going to the standard network television playbook. The difference is ABC and CBS actually have hit shows. Hit shows trump just about everything, including facts. Facts suggest that Two and Half Men is a pretty lousy sitcom and yet it outscores The Office by two-and-a-half to one, which will probably be the planned spinoff once the kid gets too old. NBC doesn’t have any hits. NBC has a few “almost” hits and a bunch of critically acclaimed but unwatched series that make fans of television into excitable TV-junkies and fans of money into excitable bed-wetters.
But what if the model changed? What if the coveted 18-49 demo was changed to specifically target college-educated, rich people? This is part of the reason Studio 60… is still on the air. The thing is, the average teenager in America doesn’t know the difference between NBC and TBS because, to them, they’re only four channels away from each other on the DVR guide. So why pretend you’re trying to reach everyone in America? NBC should program its schedule as if it were a cable channel. The brilliance is they’re all ready half way there.
Series like, The Office, Friday Night Lights, Heroes and to a lesser extent Studio 60…, 30 Rock, Scrubs and Law and Order: SVU aren’t far from what you’d all ready see on cable — especially The Office and Friday Night Lights, easily two of the best shows on all of television. However, saying that these shows are suppose to directly compete with CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars and whatever other mega-hits are popular this week, is foolish. Friday Night Lights, if compared to anything, should be pitted against an FX of HBO drama. Sure, its operating at a disadvantage because it is broadcast and has to play by broadcast rules, but audiences desire for sex, violence and profanity is greatly overrated. The cable audience responds to raw characters, which is what FNL provides.
Additionally, this 24-episode season nonsense has to end. NBC should take the lead and restructure the standard television season. Forget two dozen episodes sprinkled over 40 weeks. Show ten or 13 back-to-back and then replace the show with something else until the next 13 are ready to air. Not only does this keep the programming new, it keeps good shows from burning out.
It’s easy to say all of this without having to consider the financial implications on the company, but really, that’s part of the fun. The thing is, all of the networks are panicked about their audiences fleeing to cable, DVD, video games, drugs, sex addictions, etc., and taking all of the advertisers with them. Under the existing model this is obviously cause for concern, but who in this day and age is using that model anyway? Didn’t Google (heard of ‘em?) fix this problem, like, ten years ago?
TARGETED ADS.
Certainly there is some sort of targeting happening. There HAS to be. Right? But why not more? It’s stupid for Proctor and Gamble to give NBC hundreds of millions of dollars for them to just throw ads on wherever there’s an extra 30-seconds. Instead, the toothpaste ad would be better placed right in the middle of The Adventures of Toothy VonHigiene and The Molar Brothers with the priced jacked up exponentially. Maybe if more effort was put on how to actually program an advertisement where it might have the most impact, they wouldn’t have to do it during the actual show (be it in paid placements or along the lower-third of the screen). Again, this has to be happening. How can it not be?
Last: news (as always). NBC owns MSNBC. Why can’t the nightly news be simulcast on both networks, and why can’t it be an hour long. If you’re all ready going to have an entire network put on 24 hours of news, why not steal one of those hours for the flagship station? When everyone else is doing less news, why not do more– especially if the apparatus is all ready in place.
The fact of the matter is NBC’s woes might look bad when compared to the rest of the broadcast networks, and especially bad when looked at by shareholders, but it doesn’t have to be. All NBC needs is a solid rebranding of its image. It needs to stop going after everyone and instead just go after the exact people who might watch a particular show. So Mr. Zucker, I’ll be expecting my check any day.
