Dive Brief:
- Syfy, TBS and WGN America cable networks have all tried out ad-free TV episodes, with TBS releasing one series in a one-day, ad-free binge-a-thon, according to Ad Week.
- One reason for the unorthodox move is that TV is cluttered with 412 scripted and 750 unscripted series between broadcast, cable and streaming options, meaning that the cable networks are willing to take chances in hopes of drawing in an audience.
- In the case of the TBS series, local ads and sponsored content were shown between full ad-free episodes of the show.
Dive Insight:
The ad-free moves by the cable networks come as TV networks face an imperative to get creative — not only in grabbing audience but also in getting marketers’ ad dollars. Recent trends have seen digital making gains over both broadcast and cable TV ad spending. Research last year from Standard Media Index found overall ad spending in July 2015 up 7% year-over-year, but broadcast spending was down 2%, cable spending up 1%, and digital grew 28%.
"We're obviously an ad-supported network and our advertising partners are really important to us, but for me, nothing is more important than the shows launching successfully," Matt Cherniss, president and gm, WGN America and Tribune Studios, told Adweek. "The short-term experience of how much money you might generate off one episode of television versus the long-term of keeping an audience involved and getting them hooked on a show to the extent that they're going to come back for weeks two, three, four and beyond."
Ad buyers may be buying into the ad-free idea if it drums up interest in new shows.
"We're willing to sacrifice whatever benefit we're going to get out of that one episode if we can get the next Walking Dead," said David Campanelli, director of national broadcast for Horizon Media. "That's obviously lofty standards, but TV needs hits, and that's harder and harder to do in an ad-supported way. If that's a way to jump-start it and get attention, we're all for it."