Showtime repeats its early-bird Emmy tactics

The Primetime Emmy Awards won’t take place until August, but some of the cable networks have already spent months lobbying voters.

By now, of course, mailboxes of the 12,000 members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences are getting stuffed with material from dozens of networks (the nominations are announced in July). But the promotional bonanza does seem to be starting earlier each year -- this time around, it began in January.

Leading the way is Showtime, the premium network eager to promote such acclaimed but low-rated fare as “Huff” and “Weeds.” PR chief Rich Licata says so many networks are now churning out scripted fare that voters need more time to watch.

“Trouble nowadays is,” Licata wrote in an e-mail, “a month is not long enough to screen all the product that’s arriving in their offices and homes.”

Last year, Licata sent out the first season of “Huff” in mid-February, about three months before a network’s traditional campaign launch. Showtime was rewarded with a surprising seven nominations for the quirky Hank Azaria series. So this year, Licata started in mid-January.

Lifetime spokesman Gary Morgenstein said he was stunned to see the Showtime screeners arriving so early, but tipped his hat to the effort. “Good for them,” he said, although he noted that Emmy nods (and expensive promotional campaigns) don’t always translate into good ratings. “Huff” has proven ratings-challenged in its second year, and even Emmy-winner “Arrested Development” could manage only two seasons on Fox.

Even so, it’s not too tough to imagine a time when Emmy guests leaving the event might be told: “Here is your screener box for next year’s ceremony....”

Wait, there’s more

Is it Rick Springfield’s fault that ABC is having a rocky month? Well, maybe a little.

ABC is limping along in third place among young adults through the first week of the May “sweeps,” despite having some of prime time’s top shows, including “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

The Daytime Emmy Awards telecast -- a three-hour extravaganza on April 28 hosted by ‘80s heartthrob Springfield -- may be partly to blame. The telecast rounded up just 6.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, a 20% drop from last year’s Daytime Emmys on CBS. Ratings in the crucial 18 to 49 demographic plummeted 23%.

The growth for Fox’s “American Idol” this year has made it tougher for some ABC shows too, including “Lost.” An ABC spokesman cautioned against making too much out of just one week’s worth of sweep results.