NBC's 'Do No Harm' = Biggest Flop in Network TV History!

[Temis the Vorta]

Temis, I don't understand your insistence on the stereotype that CBS caters only to really old people. [...] So nearly 60% of their audience is under 45, or at least it was five years ago.

This is true. However, haven't almost all studies shown that the median audience for CBS is older than that of any other major network? IIRC; CBS is in the 40s; ABC & NBC are in the 30s; and the CW, FOX, & MTV are all in the 20s.

CBS skews the oldest and it's been that way for a while. They make up for it on volume. But that strategy is doomed over the long haul.

Advertisers only care about 18-49. I thought everyone knew that by now. So skewing old becomes a real problem when the average age is starting to edge out of that demo.

Whether or not brand preferences are really locked in at 49 is a different issue. As long as advertisers think that way, they will continue to act on that belief, even if it is stupid and wrong.

I don't think much of the "targeted" advertising online, though. A couple of days ago I got a new landline phone at Staples -- and when I was browsing that evening, a Staples ad appeared on io9 offering to sell me the exact phone I'd just bought. How useless is that?

Or just look at this place, with that idiotic vertical banner in the wrong location! Somebody hit the wrong button. And before that, there were ads for Buzz Lightyear toys and underage Asian girls being served on the same page. What target market is that, exactly? Whoever it is, I don't want to meet them. It creeps me out to think they're here.

Even the vaunted Netflix is screwing up. I get both streaming and DVDs. I didn't start getting House of Cards advertising on my envelopes until after I'd started watching that show. Shouldn't that have been the other way around?

The nice thing about online advertising is that it's easier to tell when somebody is messing up. If they know everything about us, there's no excuse for mis-targetted ads.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Yes Smash was a flop last year, and it's worse this year. At least Parenthood will get a 5th season.

Do No Harm = 2.2 mil/0.7

That's CW levels.

the ads looked terrible

 

[DeepSpaceWine]

NBC should not be deterred by Do No Harm (to the Network's Ratings... Please!). They can make a surefire Biggest Loser if they combine Do No Harm, Supertrain, Manimal, My Mother the Car, and The Jay Leno Show. Imagine the possibilities!

Or how about a 3rd Rock from the Sun, 30 Rock, Rock Center mash-up? What 3- Rock show does NBC have planned for 2016? (Every 10 years... 3rd Rock in 1996, 30 Rock in 2006)

Or how about they get Dawn Ostroff to design their schedule? She can put a third notch in her lipstick case or tv remote or something. She deep sixed UPN (though it was already on the decline), CW; she can work her magic on the NBC peacock! Maybe she can hone her laser-focus down even further, focusing not just on teenage girls but teenage girls who are precisely 17, of a certain hair color and which have two vowels (no more, no less) in their first name.

 

[Pavonis]

I think 40s counts as senior citizens as far as advertisers are concerned.

I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm sure advertisers know that it is almost next to impossible to change the minds of people older than age 40.

Perhaps that's why advertisers are willing to pay more to reach a larger teenager -> young adult demographic, than for older people. (ie. Many young people's minds are not made up yet).

I thought it was because teens and young adults had the most disposable income.

 

[jayceee]

I think 40s counts as senior citizens as far as advertisers are concerned.

I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm sure advertisers know that it is almost next to impossible to change the minds of people older than age 40.

Perhaps that's why advertisers are willing to pay more to reach a larger teenager -> young adult demographic, than for older people. (ie. Many young people's minds are not made up yet).

I thought it was because teens and young adults had the most disposable income.

Perhaps a combination of both mental malleability and disposable income.

 

[Dream]

People still are taking about "Do No Harm"? Another stupid NBC show flops and the world moves on just like it always has.

Big deal.

 

[Dream]

I think 40s counts as senior citizens as far as advertisers are concerned.

At the moment, only the people 18-49 years old matter to the networks and advertisers. The 18-49 demo ratings are used to determine which shows to keep by the networks and how expensive commercials will sell for.

 

[doubleohfive]

NBC's 'Do No Harm' = Biggest Flop in Network TV History!

Ironically, ZZYFRX thought it was the best television series of all time.