Cable networks will be out in force this week at the annual Comic-Con International convention in San Diego, seeking exposure for new shows slated to debut over the next few months.
Most networks will look to build continued momentum for their current shows among the more than 130,000 estimated attendees at the July 9-12 convention, an audience of passionate fans and viewers.
The four-day show has become especially valuable in introducing new series, movies and specials to the boisterous and social media-active group of entertainment aficionados, cable programmers said.
“It’s a great place to be able to celebrate our existing franchises and thank the fans that supported them, but also a place to introduce that group of fans to stuff that’s new,” Walter Levitt, chief marketing officer for Comedy Central, said.
SPOTLIGHT ON ‘MOONBEAM’
The network for the second year in a row will host a panel for Moonbeam City, the new animated series featuring Rob Lowe, Elizabeth Banks, Will Forte and Kate Mara launching this fall. Levitt said the series was well-received by Comic-Con enthusiasts last year, and Comedy expects to generate even more buzz for the crime-based series in its second go-around.
“I think everyone wants to have that one-on-one connection with the fans,” Levitt said. “We wanted to get it in front of this influential group to lock them in early before the launch.”
For networks like AMC, which first featured its hit series The Walking Dead at Comic-Con five years ago, the convention’s horror and sci-fi focus serves as a perfect launching pad for the spinoff Fear the Walking Dead, which debuts in August.
The network will throw a Fear the Walking Dead party, co-sponsored with Tumblr and Entertainment Tonight, and host a panel discussion with producers that will include clips from the series.
AMC also is previewing its martial-arts themed series Into the Badlands as part of a series panel at the conference. Linda Schupack, head of marketing for AMC, said Comic-Con gives networks a chance to talk to the most passionate fans of a genre or show first, before broadening out the message to a wider group of viewers.
“To get in front of the fans of The Walking Dead franchise and to have them evangelize on behalf of the show is an extraordinary opportunity for us,” she said.
Networks with content not steeped in comic-book or horror-themed programming are also migrating to Comic-Con to expose new shows to the public. TV Land will look to introduce its dark comedy Impastor, starring Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), as well as comedy Teachers, starring the Katydids comedy troupe.
TV LAND: TAPPING PASSION
Despite not having any shows in Comic-Con’s sweet spot, TV Land executive vice president of marketing and creative Kim Rosenblum hopes to ride the passion that convention attendees have for entertainment programming in general — and their desire to share that passion via social media.
“Comic-Con is about passionate fans, and the experience of fans coming together around entertainment that they love and buzzing about it,” Rosenblum said. “The idea of TV Land being there to connect with people who are passionate about pop culture and like to engage in the content and talk about it is valuable.”
Syfy president David Howe said the gathering’s social-media-savvy attendees offer a perfect launch platform to introduce new shows and build critical early buzz.
Syfy will showcase upcoming miniseries Childhood’s End and The Expanse, the latter of which will be elaborately re-created in a local café, where the network will exhibit the first episode of the space-themed series set to debut later this year.
“For Syfy, Comic-Con has long served as a destination for fans of our shows,” Howe said.
Coming to Comic-Con
A partial list of new cable and online-video shows to debut in San Diego:
Thursday,July 9
Hand of God — Amazon
Impastor; Teachers — TV Land
Moonbeam City — Comedy Central
Damien — A&E
Friday,July 10
Shannara Chronicles — MTV
Fear the Walking Dead — AMC
The Man in the High Castle — Amazon
Colony — USA Network
We Bare Bears — Cartoon Network
Saturday,July 11
Into the Badlands — AMC
Childhood’s End, The Expanse — Syfy
Sunday,July 12
The Bastard Executioner — FX
Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll — FX
SOURCE: Networks, Multichannel News research
