Emma
02-07-2006, 12:31 AM
<img src="http://www.fanbolt.com/forums/images/avatars/supernatural/supernatural09200543.jpg" width="85" height="85" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5" border="0" alt="Jared Padelecki, Supernatural wb, cast"> The WB is unlike the other networks in one crucial respect. The likes of Fox and UPN can sop up red ink with profits from their TV stations, which make money selling local ads. Warner Bros. owns no stations. And that's where the DVDs and reruns brighten the picture. For example, the studio gets an estimated $850,000 an episode by selling reruns of its Superboy drama Smallville to cable. The WB also sells DVDs, along with Smallville Magazine subscriptions to teens for $37.75 a year. And it gets a cut from the soundtracks of such shows as Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill.
AGING AUDIENCE
To generate those ancillary revenues, the WB needs big enough ratings to satisfy advertisers, though. They indirectly foot much of the bill for such shows as Supernatural, which costs an estimated $1 million an episode to make. Yet ratings this year fell by 43% for One Tree Hill, now in its third year, and 24% for four-year-old Everwood. Worse, as several shows have aged, so have the viewers. Since 2002, the WB's median age has risen by six years, to almost 37. "That could be deadly for a network that sells young demos," says Brad Adgate, research director of media buying agency Horizon Media Inc.
Advertisers aren't fleeing so far, but the WB isn't taking any chances. It laid off 45 people, about 15% of the staff, in December. Axing 7th Heaven was another cost-cutting move; the show lost the WB $16 million last year, due to highly compensated stars and falling ratings. And while Warner makes most of the 12 shows on the current schedule, the WB has to reach outside for ratings grabbers, such as Fox's Beauty and the Geek.
The WB doesn't have forever to right its ratings, what with corporate raider Carl C. Icahn at Time Warner's gate. A renegotiated deal with Tribune Co., which owns 22.5% of the WB and carries programming on its 19 affiliates, could help. That contract has been held up for months, giving rise to speculation that Tribune could refuse to pay for the WB shows it carries and cripple the network. Tribune also could stop Warner Bros. from distributing on the Web shows that would compete against its stations.
But the new deal, says WB Chairman Garth Ancier, will likely allow his company to sell shows via the iPod. That's another way for the ratings-challenged network to eke out revenues as it battles to reclaim its lost youth.
<a href="http://www.fanbolt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1578088&postcount=60">Click here for more!</a>
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Source: Business Week
01-30-2006
Byline: Ronald Grover
Section: News: Analysis & Commentary: RATINGS DRAMA
Volume: Issue: 3969
AGING AUDIENCE
To generate those ancillary revenues, the WB needs big enough ratings to satisfy advertisers, though. They indirectly foot much of the bill for such shows as Supernatural, which costs an estimated $1 million an episode to make. Yet ratings this year fell by 43% for One Tree Hill, now in its third year, and 24% for four-year-old Everwood. Worse, as several shows have aged, so have the viewers. Since 2002, the WB's median age has risen by six years, to almost 37. "That could be deadly for a network that sells young demos," says Brad Adgate, research director of media buying agency Horizon Media Inc.
Advertisers aren't fleeing so far, but the WB isn't taking any chances. It laid off 45 people, about 15% of the staff, in December. Axing 7th Heaven was another cost-cutting move; the show lost the WB $16 million last year, due to highly compensated stars and falling ratings. And while Warner makes most of the 12 shows on the current schedule, the WB has to reach outside for ratings grabbers, such as Fox's Beauty and the Geek.
The WB doesn't have forever to right its ratings, what with corporate raider Carl C. Icahn at Time Warner's gate. A renegotiated deal with Tribune Co., which owns 22.5% of the WB and carries programming on its 19 affiliates, could help. That contract has been held up for months, giving rise to speculation that Tribune could refuse to pay for the WB shows it carries and cripple the network. Tribune also could stop Warner Bros. from distributing on the Web shows that would compete against its stations.
But the new deal, says WB Chairman Garth Ancier, will likely allow his company to sell shows via the iPod. That's another way for the ratings-challenged network to eke out revenues as it battles to reclaim its lost youth.
<a href="http://www.fanbolt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1578088&postcount=60">Click here for more!</a>
-------------
Source: Business Week
01-30-2006
Byline: Ronald Grover
Section: News: Analysis & Commentary: RATINGS DRAMA
Volume: Issue: 3969