Throughout 2010 (okay, since July) I've been monitoring general trends in TV to see what's been working, what hasn't, and the hideous mistakes that the industry has made. So I thought that I should wrap up what lessons TV should learn and apply in 2011. At the end of 2011, we'll revist these points and see how they did.
If you think I've forgotten any, feel free to add a your own in the comments.
Stop Moving Shows About on a Whim
Ratings seem to have become so important in the last couple of years that in 2010 not a week went by without some show getting canned or bumped back into the witching hour because it wasn't performing well in prime time. This has become particularly noticeable for new shows. If they don't perform well on their first night, Bam! They get knocked back without even being given the chance to build up a loyal following.
To be fair, in some cases the actions are warranted. Usually it's a fair call to bump a show back if it declines in quality (or never had any quality to begin with) and starts losing viewers because of of it.
Stop Trying to Win the Ratings Game With The Secondary Digital Channels
The huge appeal for digital channels such as Go! and ABC3 was that they decided to take a certain tone and/or target a certain demographic. The problem is that when the commercial channels get wind that their digital channel is doing well, they tweak their line-up on that channel. And tweak, and tweak, until the appeal of the original channel is gone.
Luckily, ABC2 and ABC3 are immune to this sort of treatment because the ABC doesn't get involved in the ratings war. However, Go! has been virtually ruined by Channel 9 because they've realised so many people are watching. On at least one occasion in 2010, Go! full out beat SBS's primary channel in raw numbers. On many occasions, Go! has pulled Nine over the line ahead of Seven in the ratings war when it comes to aggregating the number of people watching any channel on one network.
Popular shows have continually been bumped back an hour or two (and repeat airings almost disapeared altogether in 2010) in favour of trying to squeeze in that ratings winning film or show. Other times we get what seems like hours and hours of the same show back to back each week. (Does Go advertise anything other than The Big Bang Theory these days?) While 7Two never really had the same mass appeal that Go! initially had, it's occasionally suffered the same fate.
But Don't Think We Don't Watch Those Channels
To be honest, almost all the good stuff is on the secondary digital channels these days. Of the hours of television I watch every week, I think at most 25% comes from the main channels, and the rest is stuff being shown in the secondary channels. Stuff that the networks are airing in primetime is stuff that they would otherwise banish to 11 p.m. or not bother to show at all because they don't want to take the risk. With the digital channels, they can take the risk of airing a show in Primetime and keep a show airing for its entire run without too much worry in whether it's hauling in the viewers.
These are typically shows that won't appeal to the mass demographic, but are nonetheless extremely well made and entertaining pieces of television. If you can describe a fairly succesful television show as "having a cult following", you can bet it'll get a good run on digital TV here. It's these sorts of shows that, given the chance, haul the Go's and 7Two's over the line past the SBSs.
Fill The Quota for Australian Content With Stuff That's Worth Watching
By law, the primary channel of each broadcaster must broadcast a certain amount of Australian content on their primary channel (secondary digital channels are exempt from this quota until at least 2013). In July, Australian producers asked for an increase in the quota on certain kinds of shows (documentaries and the like, I believe).
The massive problem with the quota system is that a noticeable portion of the material produced just isn't all that good or gets old very quickly. The industry seems to be getting the hang of drama, which is a good start (even though I don't watch any of it I certainly respect its quality), but it can't get the hang of gameshows or general entertainment unless you work at the ABC.
Don't Play Promos or Adverts Over The End Credits
There's an increasing trend on the commercial stations to reduce the credits to a tiny box at the bottom of the screen and play some loud and obnoxious promo for an upcoming show that everyone has already heard about. And it's not just here, because I seem to recall reading about this sort of thing happening in the U.S. as well. There are several things that annoy me about this.
Firstly, as the online source I read about it happening in the U.S. pointed out, it seems brutally disrespectful to reduce the hard work of all those people to a tiny box that no one can read for your own commercial gain. Way back when the unions fought to have everyone recognised in the credits, they did it because they felt everyone deserved recognition, and rightfully so. Reducing the credits to a tiny box seems like a step backward that, in the current trigger happy legal climate, could end up in a huge court case. It also doesn't help if we watch the show and think "Hey, I wonder who that guy was." Or "Hey, that sounds suspiciously like a John Williams score. DId he score this film?" I don't want to have to look up these things on the internet afterwards. I deserve to know who worked on the film as soon as I've watched it.
If you thought it couldn't get any worse, it does. In the case of films not only do they reduce the credits to a tiny box, but they speed them up so they match the length of the promo. So not only are you giving everyone who worked on the film and us the respect we deserve, you're basically giving them the finger as well.
Then there are the films that also continue the story on with fun little graphics in the credits (e.g. WALL-E) or play some of the credits over the final shot. So not only are the networks screwing with the filmmakers, they're screwing with their final product and end vision as well. I like sitting through those little things like at the end of WALL-E because the provide further closure to the story by giving as a sort of epilogue.
And that ties in nicely with perhaps the most unforgivable effect of all: it's emotionally jarring to sit through an intense film or television show, only to have a loud obnoxious promo play over the credits. The end credits are occasionally tailored to deal with these sorts of things (the credits rolling in silence after the death of a major character on a television series, for example). We actually mentally need the credits presented in this way to tell help us reach closure on the episode or an emotionally intense film, whether it be a sad, sorrowful experience or just a cool down after an adrenaline rush.
Having a loud, obnoxious promo instead feels like a punch in the face after that. Or rather, it makes me want to punch the network executives in the face for doing it.
Learn The Lesson Taught By Bringing Hey Hey It's Saturday Back
Shows that died in the 90's died for a reason.
"Does Go advertise anything other than The Big Bang Theory these days?"
ReplyDeleteThey clearly advertise it heavily because no one would watch it otherwise.
Anyone who claims to watch it for entertainment has, in fact, had a stroke involving the pleasure and fear centres of their brain, permanently switching one on and the other off.
Anyhew...
Ads need to be made less Loud... If the program you are trying to use to keep your ratings (and your monies) high is quieter than the ads, then people will listen more to the ads. But, if people switch off during the ads, then you have a minor problem as people aren't actually watching the ads (that's ok, that's not where the ratings overly come from). In my own completely untested theory, if you make the ads at the same "pace" and loudness of the show you will retain more viewers during ad breaks as they are less likely to have been snapped out of their stupor.
Probably completely irrelevant, but... whatever.
Anyhew...
I agree with your whole Ad-over-Credits thing. It makes sense from a TV Exec point of view in that you can promo whatever you want in the stuff of the credits because most people don't read the credits... but you are leaving yourself open for liability in the same way that Target got sued a few years back because the 1.5 seconds of small print at the end of an ad about their sales was deemed too short for too much information. Not that it has stopped any other company doing the same... but it is something to think about.
Either cut the credits entirely, or leave them up. Don't make them too hard to see because, as is, they are irrelevant and completely useless.
And whoever thought of having ads over the end of films whereby there are further film pieces during the credits is a moron.
"Fill the Quota with Australian stuff worth watching."
This can not be repeated enough.
I was at a friend's house in Perth, and they had one of those new-ish cop action shows on. It was Rush or Rescue Ops. Whatever it was, it was flat out terrible.
Leave big action to yanks: They actually do this crap daily. Australia is completely different.
And, if you insist on doing a US style show based in Australia, at least make it less than highly predictable.