Network Shrinkage
By Herb.
This week is the week that all the broadcast networks convene in NYC for the “upfronts” to present their new Fall lineups and wine and dine advertisers to put their money down on their new shows. Shrinking audiences has been a dynamic of broadcast networks since the coming of age cable, beginning measurably in the 90’s. But this year there’s new shrinkage. Apparently, there are 2.5mm less viewers coming to broadcast this Spring then last, and there are all kinds of suspects from daylight savings time to DVR’s to the shows’ quality themselves. Last year shrinkage was felt at the upfronts, when UPN and the WB, resulted in the CW, and one less network. Recently, it was reported that that merger actually netted a shrinking audience as the CW resulted, much of the time, in less viewers coming to the one new channel than each of the old networks. And before that — shrinkage took the form of less nights of original programming as ABC, CBS, and NBC all have given up on programming on Saturday nights and run mostly repeats of that weeks’ top shows.
So where does shrinkage stop? At Next New Networks, we salute the broadcast networks for shrinkage and we encourage them to come clean and declare shrinkage the way of the future and learn to love it like we do. That’s what we’ve done — creating micro-networks, and shrinking shows down to minutes. Get with the program(s) guys and love your shrinking world. We do.
