(originally written for ALARM Magazine in July 2009)
Earlier this year, to the groans of many fans, marketers, and pop culture pundits, the cable network Sci-Fi rebranded themselves “Syfy,” with their new tagline, “Imagine Greater.” All debate over the silliness of the name aside, the rebrand was prompted by an interesting situation that the network found itself in. Sci-Fi was a very successful niche network catering to fans of that genre but, in an effort to expand their business, had been creating original series and specials meant to appeal to a broader audience, largely women. Sci-Fi found a great deal of success in this endeavor with Battlestar Galactica, whose audience seemed a perfect storm of rabid science fiction fanatics, and casual viewers who didn’t mind a show about space, as long as it was a good show.
The trick for Sci-Fi was how to keep the hardcore science fiction audience, but continue to grow beyond it. Cutting all associations with the genre obviously wouldn’t help; they would essentially be trashing more than a decade of brand equity to start from scratch. But, they also found that the name “Sci-Fi” carried a lot of baggage for those who weren’t typical fans of series about space, robots…etc. On top of that, it turns out the term “sci-fi” is in such common use as shorthand for the genre that it is difficult to maintain as a protectable trademark. So, a made-up word that still carries the association with science fiction, but softens it just a little, seemed like the perfect solution.
And so the network embarks on an often-perilous, yet increasingly well-tread path in television: leveraging nerds for big ratings. This tricky territory has both made and destroyed fortunes in Hollywood for decades. The idea is to create properties that generate some “cult” appeal, usually in the form of rabid genre fans (nerds), and then parlay that base into a wider audience (girls, and guys don’t still buy comic books well into their twenties and thirties). If done successfully it can yield spectacular results, as Hollywood has proved with so many comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy films in the last decade. However, almost as often it can be like trying to catch girl-lightning in a nerd-bottle.
There are obvious reasons that nerds make a great launch pad to gain bigger audiences. As a subset of an audience, they are extremely connected, vocal, and loyal. Whether it’s a comic book, movie, or television show, nerds will seek out their favorite properties on every social and consumer level. They don’t just watch something, but talk about it, read about it, puzzle over it, and furiously gather information about when it’s coming out, who’s involved, and whether or not it’s going to be awesome. That last part is often the subject of tremendous and hilarious internet-based arguments.
Another reason that properties appealing to this kind of audience can be a real boon is longevity. The original Star Trek was only on for three seasons as a TV series and cancelled due to low ratings, but Two and A Half Men is consistently one of the highest rated shows on television going into its seventh season (and already has a green light for 3 more). While I’m sure the ad sales revenue is big for Men, is there even a chance that show is still going to be a big hit on video in 40 years?
But some of the drawbacks of nerd TV are as obvious as the advantages, the most important being that this kind of audience is rarely large enough to support expensive projects on their own. Peter Jackson would never work again if the only people who saw The Lord of The Rings trilogy spoke Elvish. If a project doesn’t cross-over into mainstream success, a network can be left with a hefty bill for expensive special effects in a series watched by dozens of people.
This is now happening to nerd-God Joss Whedon for the second time in a row. Firefly couldn’t turn out the ratings it needed to stay on Fox, and cost too much to justify producing new episodes for a cable net. But, when the DVD set of the series was released, the nerd hoards came out to purchase it and earned Whedon a green light to wrap the series up in a film. This happened for two major reasons: though not huge, the cult audience was loyal enough to buy the show on DVD; and there was enough time between the DVD release and the film for the series to pick up a lot of new fans.
However, to maintain a series television needs large audiences to watch live and become loyal almost immediately. With stiff competition, shrinking margins, and loads of advertising dollars on the line, there is very seldom a lot of time to let a series build an audience, an unfortunate fact of the business that has lead to the cancellation of many potentially great shows (not to mention the longevity of many series that should probably have been cancelled sooner).
Now Joss Whedon attempts to thwart the same axe yet again with his new series Dollhouse, and fortunately he’s already ahead of where he got with Firefly. The series garnered low ratings in its first season, but was renewed for a second amid a lot of buzz around the end of the season, and some crafty budget adjustments on the production side.
But regardless of the perils, TV continues to plunge headlong into the search for buzz from the nerd crowd, so much so that San Diego Comic-Con has turned into a major event in the TV business. Hollywood picked up on the importance of this crowd, and the attention they could gain from them at Comic-Con years ago. But, TV is rapidly catching up, with dozens of pilot screenings and panels every year now. This past summer was the first time that Comic-Con took place before the annual Television Critics Association expo, and it made for an interesting situation. As Fox TV’s VP of publicity told Variety, “Previously, Comic-Con would be a place where [TV networks and distributors] would just interact. Now, it’s the place to break news.”
Courting this audience is a delicate balance to navigate, but the rewards are clear. Comic-Con was the place where Heroes initially debuted to a lot of buzz from the nerd set that led to a huge first season. But, the buzz died and ratings trailed off in subsequent seasons as fans said the quality of the show had deteriorated. Other series, like Lost, who’s hardcore fans are notorious for trying to get others to watch show, have found consistent support from their nerdiest of fans.
And that may be the ultimate danger of looking for a nerd demographic – they are fierce and vocal judges of quality. If a show is great, they will holler from the rooftops, or at least blog about it. But, if the quality starts to slip, they may continue hollering. So, the best of luck to Syfy and other networks who wish to court cult followings to parlay them into big ratings. But be wary – nerds can be a fickle crowd.
Earlier this year, to the groans of many fans, marketers, and pop culture pundits, the cable network Sci-Fi rebranded themselves “Syfy,” with their new tagline, “Imagine Greater.” All debate over the silliness of the name aside, the rebrand was prompted by an interesting situation that the network found itself in. Sci-Fi was a very successful niche network catering to fans of that genre but, in an effort to expand their business, had been creating original series and specials meant to appeal to a broader audience, largely women. Sci-Fi found a great deal of success in this endeavor with Battlestar Galactica, whose audience seemed a perfect storm of rabid science fiction fanatics, and casual viewers who didn’t mind a show about space, as long as it was a good show.
The trick for Sci-Fi was how to keep the hardcore science fiction audience, but continue to grow beyond it. Cutting all associations with the genre obviously wouldn’t help; they would essentially be trashing more than a decade of brand equity to start from scratch. But, they also found that the name “Sci-Fi” carried a lot of baggage for those who weren’t typical fans of series about space, robots…etc. On top of that, it turns out the term “sci-fi” is in such common use as shorthand for the genre that it is difficult to maintain as a protectable trademark. So, a made-up word that still carries the association with science fiction, but softens it just a little, seemed like the perfect solution.
And so the network embarks on an often-perilous, yet increasingly well-tread path in television: leveraging nerds for big ratings. This tricky territory has both made and destroyed fortunes in Hollywood for decades. The idea is to create properties that generate some “cult” appeal, usually in the form of rabid genre fans (nerds), and then parlay that base into a wider audience (girls, and guys don’t still buy comic books well into their twenties and thirties). If done successfully it can yield spectacular results, as Hollywood has proved with so many comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy films in the last decade. However, almost as often it can be like trying to catch girl-lightning in a nerd-bottle.
There are obvious reasons that nerds make a great launch pad to gain bigger audiences. As a subset of an audience, they are extremely connected, vocal, and loyal. Whether it’s a comic book, movie, or television show, nerds will seek out their favorite properties on every social and consumer level. They don’t just watch something, but talk about it, read about it, puzzle over it, and furiously gather information about when it’s coming out, who’s involved, and whether or not it’s going to be awesome. That last part is often the subject of tremendous and hilarious internet-based arguments.
Another reason that properties appealing to this kind of audience can be a real boon is longevity. The original Star Trek was only on for three seasons as a TV series and cancelled due to low ratings, but Two and A Half Men is consistently one of the highest rated shows on television going into its seventh season (and already has a green light for 3 more). While I’m sure the ad sales revenue is big for Men, is there even a chance that show is still going to be a big hit on video in 40 years?
But some of the drawbacks of nerd TV are as obvious as the advantages, the most important being that this kind of audience is rarely large enough to support expensive projects on their own. Peter Jackson would never work again if the only people who saw The Lord of The Rings trilogy spoke Elvish. If a project doesn’t cross-over into mainstream success, a network can be left with a hefty bill for expensive special effects in a series watched by dozens of people.
This is now happening to nerd-God Joss Whedon for the second time in a row. Firefly couldn’t turn out the ratings it needed to stay on Fox, and cost too much to justify producing new episodes for a cable net. But, when the DVD set of the series was released, the nerd hoards came out to purchase it and earned Whedon a green light to wrap the series up in a film. This happened for two major reasons: though not huge, the cult audience was loyal enough to buy the show on DVD; and there was enough time between the DVD release and the film for the series to pick up a lot of new fans.
However, to maintain a series television needs large audiences to watch live and become loyal almost immediately. With stiff competition, shrinking margins, and loads of advertising dollars on the line, there is very seldom a lot of time to let a series build an audience, an unfortunate fact of the business that has lead to the cancellation of many potentially great shows (not to mention the longevity of many series that should probably have been cancelled sooner).
Now Joss Whedon attempts to thwart the same axe yet again with his new series Dollhouse, and fortunately he’s already ahead of where he got with Firefly. The series garnered low ratings in its first season, but was renewed for a second amid a lot of buzz around the end of the season, and some crafty budget adjustments on the production side.
But regardless of the perils, TV continues to plunge headlong into the search for buzz from the nerd crowd, so much so that San Diego Comic-Con has turned into a major event in the TV business. Hollywood picked up on the importance of this crowd, and the attention they could gain from them at Comic-Con years ago. But, TV is rapidly catching up, with dozens of pilot screenings and panels every year now. This past summer was the first time that Comic-Con took place before the annual Television Critics Association expo, and it made for an interesting situation. As Fox TV’s VP of publicity told Variety, “Previously, Comic-Con would be a place where [TV networks and distributors] would just interact. Now, it’s the place to break news.”
Courting this audience is a delicate balance to navigate, but the rewards are clear. Comic-Con was the place where Heroes initially debuted to a lot of buzz from the nerd set that led to a huge first season. But, the buzz died and ratings trailed off in subsequent seasons as fans said the quality of the show had deteriorated. Other series, like Lost, who’s hardcore fans are notorious for trying to get others to watch show, have found consistent support from their nerdiest of fans.
And that may be the ultimate danger of looking for a nerd demographic – they are fierce and vocal judges of quality. If a show is great, they will holler from the rooftops, or at least blog about it. But, if the quality starts to slip, they may continue hollering. So, the best of luck to Syfy and other networks who wish to court cult followings to parlay them into big ratings. But be wary – nerds can be a fickle crowd.
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