BET’s “The Game” has become a success for the network drawing numbers as big as MTV’s “Jersey Shore.” Get the deets on the sitcom’s success…
After debuting to a record-breaking 7.7 million viewers on Jan. 11th, “The Game” held onto most of its audience the following week drawing 6 million viewers on Jan. 19. This must have The CW licking its wounds. “This was a show that should never have been cancelled, but The CW had nowhere to put it,” says industry analyst Marc Berman of AdweekMedia.
Marc says BET’s decision was,
“…one of the smartest moves I’ve ever seen a network do. The advantage [BET] had was that people were familiar with the show. And BET has a niche audience and caters to the African-American community — and that was the audience watching The CW sitcoms.”
And apparently BET put a lot of money into advertising and marketing for the show which is clearly paying off. BET Networks Chairman/CEO Debra Lee said several conscious marketing decisions to raise “The Game’s” profile.
“When we started to think about the marketing campaign behind ‘The Game,’ it made sense to give the biggest scripted launch on our network the biggest overall platform on our network, which is the ‘BET Awards. We started with a teaser spot with the cast of ‘The Game’ during the ‘BET Awards’ and then began to leverage every major program to deliver the message about the return of ‘The Game’ — from ‘Black Girls Rock!’ to the ‘Soul Train Awards.”
She continued,
“In addition to that, we did the traditional off-channel tactics such as billboards, bus buys and radio spots. We also did a fantastic job of leveraging the show’s fan base on social media sites.”
Glad to see BET has a hit on its hands that doesn’t involve baby mamas or reality television. And the industry is taking notice too. “The CW’s loss is BET’s gain, says Marc Berman. “It’s a win/win situation and I commend them for it.”
