I wouldn't write
Heroes off just yet. Considering that it does very well in all the non-traditional-Nielsens-type viewing, just looking at same-day Nielsens does not tell you the whole story. And NBC would be foolish not to realize it can serve as the guinea pig for figuring out the future of the TV biz because
Heroes is the future.
Executive confab about the future of TV.
Discussing the difficulties of measuring success and monetizing shows in the digital age, he pointed to "Heroes," which might get disappointing TV ratings but garners more downloads and views on Hulu than other shows. "We must be able to measure and monetize this," he said.
He's referring to the new ad-measuring consortium whose job it is to find out exactly what shows like
Heroes are really worth to their studios and their networks. This is a problem everyone faces increasingly in the future, for all shows that appear to a young-skewing audience. The solution is not to hang onto financial models for shows that appeal to old folks. That obviously has no future. Either networks figure out how to solve the
Heroes problem or they have no future, either. Cancelling
Heroes won't solve the problem it represents.
Heroes is the most pirated show on the planet. The studio making it could stuff it full of more product placements (like they're shy about doing that) and charge Guitar Hero, Nissan and Sprint for all the viewing. That's how you monetize piracy.
If I were a TV honcho, I would be sick to my stomach at the notion of cancelling the most pirated show on the planet. That is an admission that I cannot figure out how the fuck to do my job. I've been handed a product that people want to consume, and it's my job to make money out of that. Plenty of businesspeople have to figure out how to make money out of products nobody wants!
Heroes is easy - you have an audience, now squeeze some sheckles out of em!
Also the massive piracy suggests strong international ratings - something we never get any sources on (unless someone knows a good website?) There's another revenue stream that ratings websites never taps into.
