Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?
FETV is looking to let media buyers and advertisers trying to figure out what to do with their cable ad dollars know that, even in this cord-cutting era, its ratings have grown and that it has brand-safe shows that people watch.
In his second upfront as executive VP for ad sales, MIchael DuPont told B+C he found that too few buyers knew about FETV, or that FETV stands for Family Entertainment Television.
They were surprised to hear that there was a fully-distributed cable network with safe programming that delivers against Nielsen rating guarantees in-flight, he said.
Also Read: FETV Marking 10th Anniversary With Graphics, Promos, Social Content
In a tough market last year, when buyers were looking for double-digit price rollbacks, FETV had a good upfront, with revenue up 28%.
DuPont was able to accomplish that by adding advertisers — 50% of its clients were new to FETV. It also turned away about 25% of the dollars from returning advertisers who demanded “ridiculous” price cuts.
DuPont is optimistic about this year’s market.
“I see no reason that this upfront is not going to be as successful or more successful for us than last year’s,” he said.
FETV is taking its upfront pitch to about 160 agencies and advertisers. This year, about 65% of the presentations are in-person, instead of via Zoom.
“It’s a nice change. People pay attention a little more when you’re standing up in front of them versus on a screen,” DuPont said.
The presentation uses the theme “We Are Family,” and DuPont prefers calling the network Family Entertainment TV rather than by its initials.
“The family part is really an important element because Family Entertainment is family owned, which means as a company we can value the success of our partners’ business and not be beholden to Wall Street,” he said.
That translates into some of the most realistic ratings projections in the marketplace, DuPont said.
Family also means brand-safe programming and co-viewing within the household, he said.
“We the name is family, we don’t want to tell our audience what their family should look like and that’s something the owners continually embrace, which I think separates ourselves from some other networks who are using the word family,” DuPont said.
In the presentation, FETV notes that while ratings slipped 4% last year, viewership has grown 30% over the past three years. Amid the rush of viewers away from most other basic cable entertainment networks, FETV has risen enough to get into the same ballpark as better known (and higher priced) channels.
“If you’re looking to lower your costs, you should definitely take a look at us,” DuPont said.
FETV programming features dramas, comedies and westerns. New vintage shows coming to FETV later this year include Dragnet and My Three Sons.
FETV will also be following some of its rivals by packaging holiday movies at Christmas time.
FETV thinks it stacks up well against its long-tail, family-friendly competitors, such as Great American Family, INSP or UPtv.
For buyers that already buy those other networks, DuPont counters that because there is a low level of viewer duplication between FETV and those other networks.
Advertisers on rival networks might say “we’re getting that audience,” he said, “Well no, you’re actually not. You’re adding reach by adding us.”
FETV is pointing to its length of tune-in — at 32 minutes, among the highest in cable — as a sign viewers are loyal and sticking around to watch commercials.
DuPont acknowledged FETV’s viewers are mostly old and retired, which affects their income. But they rank high on the wealth index.
“They’re very high on accumulated wealth, he said. ”They’ve got second homes.” That makes FETV’s audience surprisingly attractive to financial services advertisers.
“Anybody who’s targeting someone under the age of 49 is going to have a rough time in linear cable,” DuPont noted. “Our audience is the loyal TV viewer who likes linear cable and is still watching.”
In addition to FETV, parent company Family Broadcasting Corp., has launched Family Movie Classics, which is available in 25 million homes.
“It’s the only ad-supported classic movie network,” DuPont said.
FMC is not yet Nielsen-rated but DuPont expects it will be by the end of the year, which means general-market advertisers will be able to buy it in next year’s upfront.
For now, FMC runs direct-response advertising. FMC is letting direct response advertisers sponsor movies, an unusual move clients have embraced, DuPont said.
As it turns out, the audience for FMC has been younger than for FETV, so the company is planning to launch a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel, FMC Plus, in the next couple of months.
FETV has also added depth to its ad sales team, hiring VPs Katie Lombardi from Paramount, Matthew Yox from Warner Bros. Discovery and Michael Claffey from AMC Networks.
“Even in the scatter marketplace in the past couple of quarters, we’ve seen the effect of these people who obviously have the right relationships,” DuPont said.
