PERFORMANCE/SCHEDULE ANALYSIS
(Updated as of May 21, 2008)
TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC:
Adults 28-42 "in the midst of major life transitions - getting married, first home, having children." This month, again, TLC hit the high end of that projection…slightly older than last month.
APRIL 2008 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
TOP PRIMETIME SHOWS:
Promotion really kicked in this time….didja see JON & KATE on everything from THE TODAY SHOW to THE INSIDER? No wonder it was the top series and 8 of the top 10 telecasts. The premieres really clicked, but all the repeats gave the show decreases across the board from last month.
LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG WORLD rounded out the list of Top 10 telecasts, and was the #2 series. Here’s a stat: JON & KATE & LITTLE PEOPLE were the ENTIRE Top 20 telecasts.
WHAT NOT TO WEAR and MIAMI INK were the other series above TLC’s prime average.
SCHEDULING STRATEGIES:
Monday is mainly families of different sizes (pun intended). Tuesday is no longer tattoos…..TLC did both property and crime/investigation there in March. Wednesday is medicine and families again. Thursday is still TURBO. Friday is Stacy and other makeover programs. Saturday is property. Sunday is a whole night of some of the above.
In the upfront, TLC announced a perhaps more streamlined themed-night strategy, as follows: Monday will continue with real family “sitcoms” (8 kids are funny?), Friday continues as makeovers, Saturday stays home and decorating. Other nights will be about relationships, careers and entertaining, competition, games….with each evening focusing on people and storytelling”.
Um….what’s changed? And that focus…ah, isn’t that what every network has been saying lately? (Check out IN DEVELOPMENT to see what they mean).
PROGRAM/SCHEDULE CHANGES:
MARCH - APRIL:
Week of 3/31/08: THIN is in (as in I CAN MAKE YOU THIN)…Monday at 10pm and Friday at 8pm, with 2 of ‘em Sunday at 8 and 9pm ... All DATELINE on Tuesday. All JON & KATE Wednesday. DATE MY HOUSE premieres Saturday at 8:30pm.
Week of 4/7/08: THIN is out, JON & KATE are back, Monday at 10pm. Otherwise, same as above Monday through Thursday. 2 WNTW Friday at 8 and 9pm, and Sunday at 8 and 10pm, sandwiching THIN, which is at 9pm.
Week of 4/14/08: All LITTLE PEOPLE this Wednesday. Sunday changes significantly, with 2 MOVING UPs, followed by two Planet Green previews, WA$TED and GREENOVATE.
Week of 4/21/08: OVERHAULIN’ comes back to TLC, Thursday at 8pm ... all new episodes of CHOPPER, too. DSC Health’s NATIONAL BODY CHALLENGE goes to TLC, Sunday.
PREMIERES:
-April 5th - DATE MY HOUSE
-April 24th – OVERHAULIN’
-April 24th – AMERICAN CHOPPER
MAY AND BEYOND
Week of 4/28/08: All LITTLE PEOPLE again on Wednesday. All WHAT NOT TO WEAR on Thursday.
Week of 5/5/08: Just JON & KATE 8-10pm Sunday, followed by WHAT NOT TO WEAR at 10pm.
Week of 5/12/08: 48 HOURS goes in for DATELINE, Tuesday, 9 and 10pm. BIG MEDICINE is back, all night Sunday.
Week of 5/19/08: Back to all JON & KATE Wednesday. All TRADING SPACES on Sunday.
Week of 5/26/08: All 48 HOURS now on Tuesday. Sunday goes bridal: RUNNING OF THE BRIDES; ROCK THE RECEPTION; MADE OF HONOR
Week of 6/2/08: Another week of the same lineup, until all the way to Sunday: YOUR PLACE OR MINE? Premieres at 8pm. MASTER OF DANCE splits to 2 half-hours, 9 and 9:30pm. ROCK THE RECEPTION finishes up at 10pm.
PREMIERES:
-May 18 – BIG MEDICINE
-June 1st– RUNNING OF THE BRIDES
-June 1ST – ROCK THE RECEPTION
-June 1ST – MADE OF HONOR
-June 8th - YOUR PLACE OR MINE?
YEAR AGO/BIG PICTURE
Slipped from April 2007, in spite of a much-more regularly-scheduled lineup. Core women were down 8% on the 18-49 side, -15% on 25-54. Men were off 22% and 30%. Net got older, too, including on Tuesday, where men were way down, and the night got 53% older.
How come? LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG WORLD must have been in repeats…Women for it were down up to 50%; HH share down 33%. AMERICAN CHOPPER was flat or down a bit and WHAT NOT TO WEAR even took it on the chin, with HH and core demo shares down for each.
APRIL 2008 PRIMETIME RATING ANALYSIS:
Flat in HH share from March, but again, demo declines. Women down 8 – 15%, men –13%. Notable gains on Tuesday in women, not bad Wednesday, either.
n="justify">Saturday: All property, but not the night it once was. Women down a little; men, a little more. DATE MY HOUSE seemed to be weaker at 8:30, holding the FLIP THAT HOUSE lead-in only once. TRADING SPACES picked it up a bit at 9pm, and MOVING UP, even higher at 10pm. So we have a bit of an 8:30 problem. Overall, though, noticeable gains for FLIP THAT HOUSE and TRADING SPACES in the women demos; not so MOVING UP.
Monday: One of the younger nights of the week. In spite of some good JON & KATE shares, because LITTLE PEOPLE was off, so is the night. HH shares and demos off in the –20% range. Still, the night was tops in women for the week. I CAN MAKE YOU THIN’s one night at 10pm was about a third of the lowest delivery of these three programs running on Monday .
Tuesday: New lineup, all DATELINE: REAL LIFE MYSTERIES, and the ladies like it. Core women jumped 60% on both sides. But the toll was an older night, out of the demo and a good 20% older than other nights.
Wednesday: Take your pick: it was either nights of JON & KATE or LITTLE PEOPLE. Overall, they were about the same. But thanks to one big night for JON & KATE, women leaned toward the big family to the LITTLE one. Night got a chunk younger – youngest of the week – thanks to the new vertical stunts.
Thursday: 2 parts AMERICAN CHOPPER, 1 part INK (3 LAs and 1 MIAMI). Ah, but here comes the return of OVERHAULIN’ the last week at 8pm, which did better there than a repeat CHOPPER. Young men, the target for the night, did increase, and the night is fairly young. But the cracks are starting to show on our biker boys. The INKs always held or build on the lead-in, but MIAMI INK has allegedly not been renewed, and it had one of the better performances of the night.
Friday: Young women up, older women, down. But WHAT NOT TO WEAR is another dependable performer that was down this month. TEN YEARS YOUNGER, too. That 9pm original episode premiere for WHAT/WEAR was always the tops of the nights. It was the repeats that night and throughout the week that brought it down from last month.
Sunday: A lot of different strategies…female with I CAN MAKE YOU THIN and WHAT NOT TO WEAR in different permutations. Leading off with WHAT/WEAR sandwiching THIN worked better than 2 THINS, 8-10pm, followed by WEAR. The former was also the best of the Sundays. NATIONAL BODY CHALLENGE (4th week) was the weakest, but it was a repeat from DSC Health in January. Planet Green preview night (WASTED, GREENOVATE) had among the lowest totals and shares of the 4 nights.
ADDITIONAL RATINGS INFORMATION:
Not sure if others saw it, but we noticed the second week of April performed a tad better than the rest of the weeks….on 4 or 5 nights, at least. Again, strong promotion, for J & K that week in particular, could have something to do with it.
PROGRAMACQUISITIONS:
None announced.
PROGRAM RENEWALS:
HONEY WE’RE KILLING THE KIDS AMERICAN HOT ROD; AMERICAN CHOPPER; RIDES; LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG WORLD; JON & KATE + 8; KIDS BY THE DOZEN; RIDES; LA INK; WHAT NOT TO WEAR; TRADING SPACES; FLIP THAT HOUSE; DIAGNOSIS X; KIDS BY THE DOZEN
PROGRAM CANCELLATIONS:
MIAMI INKADDITIONAL SHOWS CURRENTLY AIRING:
A BABY STORY, DINNER TAKES ALL, HOME MADE SIMPLE, HOUSE OF TINY TERRORS, TEN YEARS YOUNGER, SPORTS DISASTERS, TAKE HOME CHEF, MOVIN’ UP, ONE WEEK TO SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE, HONEY WE’RE KILLING THE KIDS!, BACKYARD NATION, I’VE GOT NOTHING TO WEAR; RIDES; MARRIAGE CAMP; DIAGNOSIS X; LOTTERY CHANGED MY LIFE; FASHIONABLY LATE WITH STACY LONDON.
