Counterprogramming (television)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the similar strategy in film distribution, see counterprogramming (film distribution).

In

television programs to attract an audience from another television station or cable channel airing a major event. It is also referred when programmers offer something different from the rival's program as an alternative to increase the audience size.[1]

United States

The main events counterprogrammed in the United States are the

Oscars, and the Olympic Games
.

Super Bowl

Main article: Super Bowl counterprogramming

The

Nielsen estimated that CBS lost 10 ratings points during halftime as a result of the special.[3]

The success of the special alarmed the

Lingerie Football League.[5]

Under an unsaid

syndicate it.[7][8]

As to preempt the possibility that the 2022 Winter Olympics would counterprogram the game, CBS agreed to swap Super Bowl LVI—which, for the first time, was scheduled during an ongoing Olympic Games—to NBC for Super Bowl LV, so that both events were aired by the same network.[9][10] Furthermore, the structure of the rotation under the NFL's next round of television contracts (which expands it to all four major networks) gives NBC rights to the game in future Winter Olympic years.[11]

Academy Awards

In 2007, the

Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, was held on the same day as the 79th Academy Awards, although it was held during the early afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. ET) start.[12] The 2008 Auto Club 500 was plagued by rain delays and unintentionally aired against a portion of the 80th Academy Awards; its start time was pushed back to around 3:00 p.m. PT (6:00 p.m. ET), while the race itself was halted again at around 6:00 p.m. PT (9:00 p.m. ET). In 2009, the race was intentionally scheduled with a 3:00 p.m. PT start, which would overlap into the telecast of the 81st Academy Awards. Fox Sports' senior vice president of programming and research Bill Wanger supported the idea, believing that NASCAR races "[could] hold their own against any competition", arguing that the Oscars and the race appealed primarily to female and male audiences respectively.[13][14] For the 2010 season, the race was moved to a 12:00 p.m. PT (3:00 p.m. ET) start due to standardized start times for all races introduced that season.[15][16]

For a number of years, the championship game of the

sweeps
period, along with the general consolidation of the film awards season into a shorter period.

The

TNT measured at 7.1 million, a 22% decline from last year's 9.1 million.[18]

The Alliance of American Football scheduled one of its contests opposite the 91st Academy Awards in 2019. The game drew 515,000 viewers, a bump of approximately 20% from the previous week's and following week's matchup on the same network, NFL Network.[19]

College football

The move is harder in the sport, especially with ESPN games competing against CBS games. Because of a CBS contract with the

at the 3:30 p.m. ET slot, and ESPN's games being regional (parts of the country may receive games from different conferences, with ABC now airing primarily the Atlantic Coast Conference and most Notre Dame away games), and even a Fox game with one of their three conferences, college football schedules are intentionally made flexible in order to allow networks to choose the best game when possible. The SEC opened their exclusivity up slightly in the 2014 for ESPN with the launch of their SEC Network
with the conference, which now allows that ESPN to air up to two SEC games (one on the main SEC Network feed, with a lower-tier matchup carried by the SEC Network's alternate feed), though CBS retains first choice for their preferred game.

Professional wrestling

In 1995, the

stable featuring Hulk Hogan, Nitro regularly beat Raw in viewership for 84 consecutive weeks.[20] In 1997, the WWF began to shift its programming in a mature direction dubbed the "Attitude Era" to compete with WCW. By April 1998, bolstered by the popularity of performers such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, and his in-universe feuds with WWF owner Vince McMahon, Raw began to overtake Nitro in viewership for the first time since 1996.[21][20][22]

As the show only aired live on occasion at the time, WCW commentators occasionally discussed Raw spoilers on-air as a ploy to keep viewers from tuning away. This tactic infamously backfired during its January 4, 1999, episode, when an announcement that Mick Foley (who previously performed for WCW as Cactus Jack, and was performing in the WWF as Mankind) would win the WWF Championship had the opposite effect, causing Nitro to lose around 600,000 viewers to the final hour of Raw. The Nitro main event (featuring Hulk Hogan defeating Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) was also marred by its unusual build-up and controversial finish—dubbed the "Fingerpoke of Doom". The episode's events were retrospectively considered to be one of several missteps that led towards WCW's eventual demise, and the sale of its assets to WWF.[21][23][24][22]

For eight weeks beginning January 4, 2010, competing promotion

Impact! on Spike to Monday nights, airing directly against Raw. In response, WWE staged the return of Bret Hart, his first WWE appearance in over 12 years.[25] TNA lost two thirds of its audience during this time, before TNA moved back to Thursday, with president Dixie Carter saying: “Our fans made it clear that they preferred the Thursday night time period. By moving to Thursdays, this is a win/win opportunity for both TNA and the fans. We are looking forward to delivering what the fans are asking for.”[26]

A renewed wrestling rivalry between TNT and USA emerged in 2019, between WWE and the new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW)—which has been seen as the first major promotion since WCW to compete financially with WWE.[27] TNT began to air AEW's first weekly program, Dynamite, on Wednesday nights beginning on October 2, 2019. On August 2, WWE announced that it would expand WWE NXT—a popular WWE Network program that focuses on a developmental brand of the same name—to a two-hour format on USA Network beginning the same night; the expansion soft-launched on September 18 with only the first hour airing on USA, to accommodate the final episodes of Suits' final season. The decision was seen as a move to counterprogram the upstart AEW, and also came alongside USA losing WWE's second flagship program SmackDown to Fox the same month.[28][29] Both AEW and NXT held two-week events on their July 1 and 8, 2020 episodes, with AEW holding Fyter Fest (which had originally been planned as a PPV), and NXT holding The Great American Bash (a former pay-per-view brand originating from WCW).[30] After regularly losing in the ratings to Dynamite, on April 13, 2021, WWE moved NXT to Tuesday nights.[31]

The October 15, 2021, episode of SmackDown (which was slated to feature the semi-finals of the

Sasha Banks—countering the first half-hour of Rampage. In response, AEW announced that it would stream a pre-show on YouTube prior to Rampage with a match between Bryan Danielson and Minoru Suzuki. After WWE announced that an encore presentation of SmackDown would immediately follow the live airing, AEW then announced that its opening match between CM Punk and Matt Sydal would also air commercial-free.[32] In key demographic viewership, Rampage drew 328,000 viewers, beating the extension of SmackDown by 43,000.[33]

In October 2023, Dynamite—which had since moved to

Lexis King, and surprise appearances by Jade Cargill, Rhea Ripley, and The Undertaker. Both programs aired their first half-hour commercial free.[34][35][36][37][38] In average viewership, NXT outdrew Dynamite with 921,000 viewers, in comparison to 609,000 for Dynamite.[39]

As a lead-in to its pay-per-view Full Gear on November 18, 2023, AEW rescheduled its Saturday-night program Collision to Friday, November 17, with both it and Rampage serving as go-home shows, and airing against SmackDown.[40][41]

Other

When Seattle's KCPQ signed back on in November 4, 1980, it aired the film The Deer Hunter to counter the major networks' coverage of the 1980 presidential election.[42]

NBC, the long-time broadcaster of the

Boston Pops Orchestra's own concert and fireworks special on CBS aired live at the same time as the NBC encore. While NBC claimed that this was for budgetary reasons, Boston Pops executive producer David G. Mugar believed that NBC had done so to intentionally pull viewers away from the Boston Pops. After ratings fell by 1 million viewers for 2012, CBS ended its national broadcasts of the event in 2013; the concert was still aired in full, as before, by its Boston station WBZ-TV.[43] The national broadcast was revived on CBS for 2016 with an expanded two-hour format,[44] before moving to Bloomberg Television in 2017 due to Bloomberg's new sponsorship of the event.[45][46]

On the day of

20th season of South Park — which had featured an ongoing storyline where Mr. Garrison is elected president in a parody of Trump and his campaign.[47]

During the

Celebrity Big Brother—which aired its season finale against the closing ceremony.[48] CBS would order a second season of Celebrity Big Brother to air in 2019,[49][50] followed by a third in 2022 to air against the 2022 Winter Olympics.[51]

ABC had planned a summer-themed follow-up to The Bachelor Winter Games to air in August 2020 against the 2020 Summer Olympics, but production was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic (which led said Games to be postponed to 2021).[52]

United Kingdom

In the

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? opposite the final episode of One Foot in the Grave on BBC One drew accusations of counterprogramming; the Independent Television Commission (ITC), after investigating the matter, exonerated ITV of any wrongdoing.[53]

By contrast in 2005, attempts by ITV to counterprogram the BBC's Doctor Who with the poorly-received game show Celebrity Wrestling were unsuccessful, with ITV burning it off in a lower-profile Sunday timeslot after five episodes.[54]

See also

  • List of
    Super Bowl halftime counterprogramming

References

  1. ^ Uribe, Rodrigo; Buzeta, Cristian; Hurtado, Daniel (2011). "Looking for the audiences: The effect of using partial counterprogramming and a friendlier style of news presentation". Innovar. 21 (42): 151–159. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  2. ^ Williams, Doug (31 January 2013). "When Up With People dominated halftime". ESPN.com. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "Goal of spectacle colors NFL's thinking about Super Bowl halftime show". Chicago Tribune. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  4. ^ Sandomir, Richard (30 June 2009). "How Jackson Redefined the Super Bowl". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Houston (11 January 2013). "Lingerie Football League changes name; players to wear uniforms". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  6. ^ "NFL Network is just airing audio of the game with a scoreboard of the Super Bowl". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
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  8. ^ "TV ratings: Super Bowl on pace for a record audience". Zap2It. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  9. ^ "CBS, NBC in 'Freaky Friday' Super Bowl swap". adage.com. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  10. ^ Steinberg, Brian (2019-03-13). "CBS, NBC to Swap Super Bowl Broadcasts". Variety. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  11. ^ "Billions of dollars, evolving contracts and streaming plans". SportsPro. 2021-03-23. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
  12. ^ "Stars won't pay attention to race during Oscars". ESPN. 23 February 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  13. ^ "Running out of chances in California". Yahoo! Sports. 20 February 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  14. ^ "NASCAR going head-to-head with Oscars". U-T San Diego. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  15. ^ "After Falling Asleep At Wheel, Changes Coming". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2016-02-22. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  16. ^ "Races will start at consistent times". ESPN.com. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  17. ^ Hughes, James (2013-11-19). "The Sporting Life of Elliott Gould". Grantland. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  18. ^ NBA All-Star Game's 7.1 Million Viewers Down 22% From Telecast In '11
  19. ^ "AAF ratings climb for Week Three on NFLN". 27 February 2019.
  20. ^ a b Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE: History of WrestleMania. p. 53.
  21. ^
    ISBN 1-55022-726-2
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  22. ^ a b Holland, Jesse (2012-01-04). "On this date in WCW history: Tony Schiavone and the Finger Poke of Doom". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  23. ^ Stroud, Brandon (2018-01-04). "WCW's Fingerpoke Of Doom Happened 19 Years Ago Today, Brother". UPROXX. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  24. ^ The Notorious Eddie Mac (2014-01-06). "The day that shook up the wrestling world". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  25. ^ Kaye, Griffin (July 29, 2022). "Wrestling Counterprogramming: 5 Examples Of Broadcasting Bellicosity". SportsObsessive. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  26. ^ Caldwell, James (May 3, 2010). "TNA News: TNA rebranding Impact on Thursday nights; "Reaction" start date announced in press release on Thursday move". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  27. ^ Silverstein, Adam (15 May 2019). "AEW TV deal: Weekly show to air live on TNT with Turner also streaming pay-per-views". CBS Sports. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  28. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (2019-08-20). "WWE's 'NXT' Moves to USA Network as Wrestling Competition Heats Up". Variety. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  29. ^ Otterson, Joe (2019-10-03). "AEW's 'Dynamite' Tops WWE's NXT in First Head-to-Head Ratings Matchup". Variety. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  30. ^ "Great American Bash returning for next two weeks of NXT". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  31. ^ "Why WWE Pulled 'NXT' Off Wednesday Nights". TheWrap. 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  32. ^ "WWE and AEW engage in an arms race for a Friday night showdown". Awful Announcing. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  33. Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online
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  34. ^ Pollock, John (2023-10-10). "POLLOCK'S UPDATE: AEW vs. NXT "Super Tuesday" Preview". POST Wrestling. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  35. ^ "AEW adds Buy-In title match to Dynamite Title Tuesday". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  36. ^ Thompson, Andrew (2023-10-10). "Carmelo Hayes discusses NXT & AEW going head-to-head, having John Cena in his corner". POST Wrestling | WWE AEW NXT NJPW Podcasts, News, Reviews. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  37. ^ "John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Asuka & Paul Heyman Set For Next Week's WWE NXT". 411Mania. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
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  39. ^ Otterson, Joe (2023-10-11). "NXT Beats AEW's 'Dynamite' in Tuesday Night Ratings". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  40. ^ "AEW announces special Friday night episode of Collision for November". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
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  42. ^ "KCPQ-TV (finally) beams on". Tacoma News Tribune. November 5, 1980. p. C-8. Archived from the original on August 26, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. ^ Powers, Martine; Moskowitz, Eric (June 15, 2013). "July 4 fireworks gala loses its national pop". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  44. ^ "With CBS on board again, Keith Lockhart is ready to take over prime time". Boston Herald. July 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  45. ^ "Vance, Bloomberg new forces for Fourth of July concert". Boston Herald. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  46. ^ "How to watch, stream, or listen to the 2017 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular". Boston.com. 2017-07-03. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  47. ^ "How TV Networks Are Accidentally—and Purposefully—Trolling Trump on Inauguration Day". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  48. ^ "How Broadcasters Are Counterprogramming Against 18 Days of Winter Olympics Coverage". Adweek. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
  49. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 12, 2018). "'Celebrity Big Brother' Renewed For Season 2 By CBS". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  50. ^ Lynch, Jason (May 16, 2018). "Les Moonves Sits Out CBS' Annual Schedule Unveiling, as the Network Shakes Up Mondays – Adweek". www.adweek.com. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  51. ^ Rice, Lynette (September 9, 2021). "Big Brother: Celebrity Edition will return in early 2022". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 9, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  52. ^ "ABC Nixes 'Bachelor Summer Games' Amid Coronavirus Pandemic". The Hollywood Reporter. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  53. ^ "Millionaire? cleared of ratings 'fix'". BBC News. 15 January 2001. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
  54. ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (14 May 2005). "ITV confirms new 'Celebrity Wrestling' slot". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
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