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March 16, 2012
 

The Sked: PROMO WATCH Changing Time Periods

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Written by: Mitch Salem
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>ShowBuzzDaily’s PROMO WATCH, our weekly look at how the networks spend their precious resource of on-air promotion time, will move to Wednesdays starting next week.  This will give us a better chance to see how each week is shaping up and what priorities might be shifting in the coming week or two.  

The next complete report will be posted Wednesday.  In the meantime, here are the top priorities for each network this past week.  ABC upped the on-air promotion rate for Missing to a very high 50 seconds per hour in the lead up to last night’s less than impressive 2.0 premiere rating.  At CBS, a virtual tie for first between Survivor at 19 seconds per hour and the upcoming cop drama NYC 22 at 18 seconds per hour.  On FOX, Touch is the top priority over the past week with 25 seconds per hour (although that is heavily weighted by a full 90-second trailer that aired in Thursday’s pilot repeat for the upcoming episodes).  On NBC, Awake received 29 seconds per hour — with last night’s disappointing 1.6 rating against no CBS drama competition an indication that it is time to give up the ghost.

Also on NBC, there have been occasional spots for USA’s drama Fairly Legal starring Sarah Shahi.  No big surprise, since NBC is usually the most likely to devote time to co-owned cable networks or movie divisions.  However, the same spots have aired in CBS and ABC dramas this week during local commercial breaks, indicating USA is willing to spend money with the owned stations on competing networks in an effort to reach a broader drama audience than NBC is able to deliver.         



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."