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 The changes could help offset declining audiences and the
trend known as "cord cutting," as a growing number of Americans
opt to go without traditional cable or satellite television
service and rely instead on Internet streaming video.
Viacom Inc's TV Land network is developing more serialized
programming where the plot unfolds with each episode, and
recently changed the storyline of a new show to encourage
binging.
Time Warner Inc's Turner Broadcasting System in January launched
its new comedy "Angie Tribeca" by airing the entire 10-episode
season in a 25-hour "binge-a-thon" on TBS. A third of viewers
were new to the network.
TV executives are also working with advertisers to change
commercials, so binging viewers stay engaged. Experiments
include making brands part of the show on Turner. CBS Corp,
meanwhile, is studying whether commercials themselves should be
serialized to tell a story.
The changes reflect a realization that fewer people,
particularly younger viewers, watch shows when they air and
instead binge-watch series like Netflix's "House of Cards" or
"Orange is the New Black."
"The streaming platforms have created a more competitive
environment and we all need to deliver better," said David Levy,
president of Turner.
Networks used to cringe at serialized shows because they did not
lend themselves well to syndication. Out-of-order reruns can be
confusing, so program developers preferred series such as CBS
hits "The Big Bang Theory" or "NCIS," which wrap up a story in
each episode.
But with the rise of binge-watching, TV networks see a chance to
hook viewers through cliffhangers. They make batches of current
episodes available on-demand through cable boxes or online apps,
and sell them later to the likes of Netflix.
Forty-six percent of millennials - people in the 18-to-34 age
group - watch shows after they air, according to media
researcher Comscore. And 42 percent of viewers binge-watch
multiple episodes of a show, one to two times per month.
"Bingers are super fans," said Jonnie Davis, president of
creative affairs for 20th Century Fox TV. "These are the people
who go to work the next day and want to talk about the show."
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At TV Land, creative and marketing executive Kim Rosenblum said one
new show, "Impastor," was rewritten from the pilot to drive the
story across episodes and attract binge viewers.
The show follows slacker Buddy Dobbs who escapes from his gambling
debt by pretending to be a preacher in a small town. To encourage
people to keep watching, writers developed a story line about thugs
hunting down Dobbs, giving each episode a cliffhanger, Rosenblum
said.
"Instead of it being every episode as a standalone, we added a
storyline that was told more episodically as the mystery unravels,"
she said.
Turner has added original, serialized shows like "The Alienist" and
"Good Behavior," to TNT, which traditionally has been rerun heavy.
Binging viewers are also less likely to watch ads because most are
watching them via their DVRs, which allow them to fast forward past
commercials. Forty-three percent of viewers prefer to binge watch
shows via their DVRs, compared to only 19 percent who do so through
video on demand, according to Comscore.
To address this, Turner is ramping up brand placement in its shows,
for example filming a scene of truTV's "The Carbonaro Effect" at
Papa John's Pizza, which sponsored the episode.
CBS is considering adding serialized commercials, to make sure that
binge viewers are not exposed to the same ad again and again, and
draw them in with a story, said David Poltrack, chief research
officer at CBS.
It all comes down to networks realizing that streaming video has
become one of broadcast television's biggest threats, and
potentially its salvation, said Dave Morgan, chief executive of
Simulmedia, a New York-based ad tech firm.
"If they don't get viewership, they don't get paid," he said.
(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; additional reporting by Lisa Richwine
in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Henderson and Tom Brown)
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