ABC in a Marketing Blitz for Ratings

ABC faces a stiff challenge in seeking to reverse its flagging fortunes: selling the network’s fall shows to an audience that is no longer watching.

With about 22% fewer viewers tuning in this summer, ABC executives cannot solely rely on their own on-air promotions to hype shows that debut in mid-September.

So Walt Disney Co. has launched a barnstorming campaign intended to generate excitement about ABC’s fall schedule.

The company is handing out 115,000 ABC car antenna balls to Disney employees nationwide. It’s stuffing 2 million “ABC Happy Hour” inserts into music CDs of popular artists and distributing 100,000 “Dinotopia” bookmarks at Disneyland. Disney-owned sports network ESPN will run a promotional spot every hour through September highlighting ABC prime-time shows.

And for the first time, Disney is assembling more than 70 actors from the network’s prime-time programs. Today and Sunday at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim, John Ritter, Dennis Franz, Drew Carey, Jim Belushi and other stars are scheduled to mill about and meet fans. Some fans from Indiana, New Jersey, Florida and Texas are being flown in at Disney’s expense after they won contests at ABC-owned radio stations.

“When you’ve got low audience levels, you have to spend more money and be more creative in finding other ways to attract an audience,” said Susan Lyne, ABC’s entertainment president. “This is a grass-roots way of getting our message out.”

Stakes for the company have never been higher.

The jobs of ABC executives, up to Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner, hinge on whether the network can quickly reverse its ratings slide.

During the regular season, ABC’s prime-time ratings tumbled nearly 20%. Summer prime-time ratings dipped to near all-time lows. ABC’s average nightly audience this summer has been 6.2 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That’s 3 million fewer viewers from the gravy days two summers ago when “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” became a cultural phenomenon.

With no break-out summer hit this year to use as a promotional springboard, other Disney divisions have been drafted into service.

Disney’s Buena Vista home entertainment will add ABC promos to upcoming video releases. The ABC Family cable channel will donate nearly 450 spots to promote the prime-time shows on the broadcast network.

Walt Disney Studios will turn over wall billboard space to ABC, and ESPN Zone restaurants will be festooned with “Monday Night Football” banners, game cards and beverage coasters.

In Florida, the Disney-MGM resorts have created a “Get Happy ... With ABC” attraction for park visitors to preview the fall shows, which already has logged more than 100,000 visitors.

“There’s not an idea that we haven’t explored and picked through in an effort to reach a greater audience,” Lyne said. “The challenge is big, but we are addressing it in every way that we can.”

ABC’s marquee marketing event is this weekend’s “Prime-Time Preview Weekend,” at California Adventure.

Thousands of people, who will pay $35 to $45 to enter the park, will see celebrities, including ABC sports personalities Michelle Kwan, Dan Fouts and Al Michaels. On display will be the trophies that will be awarded at next year’s NFL Super Bowl and NBA championship--events the network will broadcast.

“I just wish we could have this event in 70 other cities,” said Steve Sohmer, ABC’s newly hired marketing chief.

Disney executives plan to use the media to extend their reach. “Entertainment Tonight,” “Access Hollywood,” News Corp.-owned Fox News and TV, print and radio reporters from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to Atlanta have credentials to cover the event.

“The 20,000 people at the park are the event. But the coverage will reach many millions more.... It’s going to have real impact,” Lyne said.

The network’s lower ratings during the last year translate into less advertising and operating income. Morgan Stanley analysts predict that when Disney wraps up its fiscal year at the end of September, the network will post a deficit of about $550 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a common measurement of cash flow for media companies. The network’s revenue is estimated to be $3.6 billion.

ABC has more than doubled its marketing budget for prime-time shows.

ABC executives won’t disclose the amount, but ABC network President Alex Wallau said the extra money for promotions hasn’t been added to the network’s bottom line. Instead, the network has saved money by eliminating several talent deals and cutting in other areas.

“It’s a reallocation of resources,” Wallau said. “We’re managing our cost side so that we can launch our shows in a smart manner for this very critical year for the ABC network.”

The marketing money will be used to buy advertisements on cable channels, radio networks, newspapers and magazines throughout the fall--not just the first few weeks of September.

“We’ve had a bad year and a summer that we need to improve upon,” Wallau said.

All of the major broadcast networks have experienced ratings declines this summer. Cable TV has grabbed an all-time high in market share, 53.5%, with broadcast networks attracting 38.2% of the total TV audience, according to Turner Research.

Only Fox Broadcasting Co., which scored with its summer hit “American Idol,” marked an increase, 6.7%, this summer among viewers 18 to 49--the group that’s most desirable to advertisers. Top-rated NBC has lost 9% of its summer viewers while CBS has dropped 3%, according to Nielsen.

The WB has remained flat while summer ratings at the Viacom-owned UPN nosed-dived by 13%.

ABC’s slide has been more severe than at competing networks. ABC is down 16.5% in the 18-to-49 age group. Network executives hope their promotional efforts will prompt viewers to return to sample the new fall fare.

“Every fall offers a new opportunity,” said Leland Westerfield, a broadcasting analyst with the investment banking firm UBS Warburg. “ABC has formidable work ahead, but it remains one of the dominant brands in television. And if the network’s ratings are up even slightly this year, it will be seen as an improvement.”

In the end, though, it’s really all about good programming, said Sohmer, who oversees ABC’s promotions staff of about 100.

“There’s no substitute for break-through programming,” he said. “This is a fish-bowl game, it’s not like getting people to buy a car and if they don’t like it, they still have to drive it for a few years. In television, if they don’t like the flavor--click, they’re gone.”