A summer of lost viewers for TV networks

By Scott Collins

Aug. 23, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Movie studios wondering where filmgoers went this summer can rest assured of one thing: For the most part, those missing Americans weren’t glued to the broadcast networks.

With the notable exception of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” -- by far the summer’s biggest new hit, with an average of 16.8 million viewers -- the six major broadcast networks have slogged through a disappointing summer, with household viewing down about 6% compared with the same period last year. Among the advertiser-friendly demographic of adults ages 18 to 49, the slide was even worse, off 10% according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

A number of heavily promoted reality series tanked, including CBS’ “Rock Star: INXS” and NBC’s “I Want to Be a Hilton,” and David E. Kelley’s first venture into reality TV, “The Law Firm,” which moved to Bravo after two low-rated episodes.

But scripted series failed to deliver as well. ABC watched its Roman epic “Empire” decline and fall. And viewers showed little interest in repeats of hits like “Desperate Housewives” or “Lost.”

The network losses were good news for basic cable, which increased its share of the prime-time audience to a record high of 61%, up four percentage points from last year. (Broadcast share slipped four points, to an all-time low of 32%; the remaining share consisted of pay cable networks and independent broadcasters.)

As in recent years, basic cable took advantage of broadcasters’ summertime slowdown and unleashed a blitz of original scripted series. TNT’s crime drama “The Closer” was a sleeper hit, averaging 5.3 million viewers -- an impressive number for ad-supported cable -- and the network also drew strong numbers with its series “Wanted” and the miniseries “Into the West.” FX’s Iraq drama “Over There” started out powerfully, although it dropped in subsequent airings.

“The fall is the time when broadcast comes out with new scripted stuff, but summertime is when cable does it,” said Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer at Turner Broadcasting, which includes TNT.

Spanish-language network Univision, meanwhile, dominated the rapidly growing young Latino audience with the telenovelas “La Madrastra” and “Apuesta Por Un Amor.” Univision, in fact, was probably the summer’s greatest success story; the Spanish-language network is up 23% among adults 18 to 49 compared with last summer.

In Los Angeles, Univision station KMEX had six of the top 10 programs among all local broadcasters this summer, including the most-watched scripted program, “La Madrastra.” Only Game 7 of the NBA Finals on KABC delivered better ratings locally this summer. Overall, Univision was the fifth most-watched TV network this summer, with 3.5 million average viewers. While not yet a threat to No. 1 CBS (7.4 million), the Spanish-language network has more prime-time viewers than TNT (2.9 million), UPN (2.6 million) and the WB Network (2 million).

The summer numbers raise doubts about broadcasters’ oft-expressed hopes of grabbing momentum away from cable during the warmer months. Over the last five years, network executives have increasingly eyed summer as a platform for new reality series; both CBS’ “Survivor” and Fox’s “American Idol” started as summer shows and became top performers during the regular season too. But the search for the next hot reality offering may have created a glut since May.

“It’s not that the broadcasters struck out,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vice president at New York-based ad firm Magna Global. “There was just so much reality that there were more flops than successes.”

Agreed Preston Beckman, executive vice president of Fox Broadcasting Co.: “There were just a lot of mediocre -- at best -- reality shows” this summer.

Perhaps the most surprising fizzle was CBS’ “Rock Star,” which was overseen by one of TV’s most successful reality producers, Mark Burnett of “Survivor” and “The Apprentice” fame, and featured a rock group, INXS, that scored a number of hits during the 1980s. What’s more, CBS’ youth-skewing reality series “Big Brother” continued to post decent numbers in its sixth season.

Some commentators attributed “Rock Star’s” low ratings to the decline in the popularity of rock music. “Idol,” by contrast, features songs from a number of different genres, including rhythm & blues, pop and country. Overexposure may have also played a role: CBS eventually dumped the Monday airings of “Rock Star,” although Tuesday and Wednesday episodes were left intact.

“We realized that for a new show, three days a week is asking an awful lot of the audience,” said Kelly Kahl, CBS’ executive vice president of program planning and scheduling. But he added that even though “Rock Star’s” ratings “were not as high as we’d like,” the show still brought younger-than-usual viewers to CBS this summer.

There’s even a chance the network may bring back “Rock Star” next summer, he said; after all, CBS has turned “Big Brother” into a summer favorite despite less-than-impressive ratings its first season.

“Rock Star” didn’t hurt CBS’ overall performance too badly: The network is No. 1 in total viewers this summer, with an average of 7.4 million, and has a razor-thin lead over runner-up Fox in adults 18 to 49.

NBC woes

NBC had worse problems. The network sank 20% in its core young-adult audience, partly because this summer it depended more heavily than last year on repeats of dramas that attract older viewers, such as “Law & Order.” But the network also bombed with reality debuts like “Meet Mister Mom” (4.5 million viewers) and Kelley’s “The Law Firm” (4.5 million).

Other networks had scattered success with reality, albeit on a modest scale. Fox will renew “Hell’s Kitchen,” the chef bake-off that did particularly well with young-adult viewers. The network may also bring back the competition show “So You Think You Can Dance.” The WB Network, which plummeted 20% overall in the 18-to-49 demographic, had a bright spot with “Beauty and the Geek,” Ashton Kutcher’s wry reality romance.

But those shows paled beside “Dancing With the Stars,” which spun into an early-summer sensation and gave the suddenly resurgent ABC its fourth major hit of the 2004-05 season, after “Housewives,” “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” ABC is the only broadcaster to post gains this summer in both total viewers and among young adults.

ABC executives explain that, like “Idol,” “Dancing” was a contest designed for family viewing.

“It’s one of the only shows on television that everyone can watch, and watch together,” said ABC Executive Vice President Jeff Bader. The network has already announced a midwinter return for “Dancing.”

As for Univision’s phenomenal summer, some of that performance is due to the explosive population growth among young Latinos, which Univision executives say compose the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S.

But the network is also clearly benefiting from viewers’ appetite for novelas, the often-racy soap operas that run every weeknight for several months. One key attraction, beyond the outlandish plot lines: The novelas -- imported from Mexican broadcaster Televisa -- are all new episodes, with no repeats.

“These continuing novelas strike a chord among Hispanics,” said David Woolfson, senior vice president of network research at Univision. “They come across like a mini-movie, if you will.”

Much of Univision’s strength comes from markets with high Latino populations, such as Los Angeles, Miami and San Antonio. But Woolfson said Univision is also turning in strong numbers in non-traditionally Latino markets that have lately seen increased immigration, including Charlotte, Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The heat is on

It’s been another tough summer for the major broadcast networks, which mostly lost prime-time viewers as cable and Spanish-language audiences grew.

Summer 2004 to summer 2005 change in young adult viewship

(During prime time, ages 18 to 49)

Univision: +23%

ABC: +5%

Fox: 0

CBS: -8%

UPN: -9%

NBC: -20%

WB: -20%