....but I dont wanna watch shows about the young and beautiful yuppers who live in big cities..... MEDIA & MARKETING Why TV Hit Longmire Got Canceled: Fans Too Old Detective Show Is Latest Victim of Industrys Focus on Young Viewers, Content Ownership By JOE FLINT Updated Sept. 11, 2014 3:35 p.m. ET When a television show is consistently popular, its reward usually isnt getting canceled. But that is what happened to Longmire on the A&E cable channel, which was unceremoniously dumped after three seasons late last month. Now the shows producer, Time Warner Inc. TWX +1.09% s Warner Bros. Television, is scrambling to find a new home for the crime drama. Based on author Craig Johnsons mystery books about Walt Longmire, a Wyoming county sheriff whose laconic personality belies his razor-sharp detective skills, Longmire was A&Es second-most popular show behind the reality hit Duck Dynasty, averaging 5.6 million viewers thi season, according to Nielsen. That is better than critical darlings Mad Men on AMC AMCX -0.27% and Justified on FX. Unfortunately for Longmire, it has the wrong audience and the wrong owner. A&E said it pulled the plug on Longmire because it appeals primarily to older viewers—the median age of the shows viewers is 60 versus 48 for the network as a whole—and it doesnt have an ownership stake in the show. A&E is a unit of A+E Networks, a joint-venture between Walt Disney Co. DIS +0.50% and Hearst Corp. Longmires fate is reflective of two growing trends in the television industry—the obsession of advertisers with younger viewers and the desire of TV networks to own as much of their content as possible. The networks are all trying to be younger and have edgy shows that attract a lot of attention, said Brian Hughes, a senior vice president at Magna Global, the media buying arm of Interpublic Group of Cos. IPG -0.21% Last year, A&E also canceled The Glades, a quirky crime drama with solid ratings that also had an older audience and was produced by a unit of 21st Century Fox. Two years ago, Comcast Corp.s CMCSA +0.12% NBC canceled Harrys Law, a popular legal drama starring Oscar winner Kathy Bates because it didnt attract enough of the desirable younger viewers. It didnt help that Harrys Law was made by Warner Bros. We sell the shows to advertisers based on the demographics of 18-49 and 25-54, and the audience just wasnt there, said A&E Senior Vice President Dan Silberman of the decision to cancel Longmire. A 30-second commercial in Longmire cost an average of $31,300, according to SQAD, a firm that tracks ad spending. A commercial in Mad Men cost $69,500 in its most recent season. Another issue, Mr. Silberman said, was that Longmire was very expensive and A&E wouldnt get to share in its potential profits because it has no stake in the show. It was a business decision. If a network owns all or some of a show, it often is more willing to look the other way with regards to its performance among key demographics because it will also get a piece of the revenue from rerun sales here and abroad, known in the industry as the backend. Warner Bros. has sold reruns of the show to Netflix Inc. NFLX -0.58% and, as Mr. Silberman said, we dont have a share in that. Typically, a network pays a license fee for each episode of a show it buys from an outside supplier and looks to make its money back from commercials. If a show is a big hit, the ad revenue ideally more than covers that fee. Neither company would discuss the financials of Longmire but a person familiar with the show said the license fee was around $1.5 million per-episode, which is average for a basic cable drama. In a highly unusual move, Warner Bros. agreed to reduce both the fee A&E paid for Longmire and the number of episodes it would make for the third season. Despite the lower price A&E said the age of the shows audience made it difficult for the network to make money on the show. That is baffling to Greer Shephard, the executive producer of Longmire, who said she was devastated by A&Es move. It is hard for me to believe that you are not able to monetize one of your highest-rated shows, Ms. Shephard said of A&Es claims, adding, you dont just flush 5.6 million people. Instead, Ms. Shephard thinks A&E was largely motivated by trouble spots elsewhere in its lineup and wanted to cut costs to make more unscripted shows, which are usually far cheaper than sitcoms and dramas to produce. Indeed, ratings for Duck Dynasty are down and that show has become more expensive because of increased pay to the cast. Ratings slipped for Bates Motel, a drama, this past season and another new show, Those Who Kill, was pulled after just a few episodes. A&Es Mr. Silberman said the decision was specific to Longmire. We gave it three seasons, he said, adding, we genuinely loved the show but the audiences in the key demographics just werent there. A veteran television producer, Ms. Shephard fears the obsession for youthful viewers and glamorous anti-heroes could have the unintended consequence of driving people over the age of 50, who tend to watch more television, away from the small screen. Its not hip and sassy, she said of Longmire. This is not a cynical show; it was designed for people who dont see their views and struggles represented. Advertisers acknowledge they place a premium on younger viewers but some think it is shortsighted to ignore aging baby boomers and cling to those old clichés that people over the age 50 are less likely to change brands. Boomers have the most disposable income, said Mr. Hughes of Magna Global. Warner Bros. is hoping to find a new home for Longmire but the odds are long. TV networks dont like to pick up a show that has been discarded although such a move is not unprecedented. Were trying to dust ourselves off and live to fight another day, Ms. Shephard said. Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj Corrections & Amplifications Longmire averaged 5.6 million viewers this season. An earlier version of the chart accompanying this article incorrectly said 4.6 million.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 11:39:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015