Daytime TV: Who is in and who is out?

Nate Berkus can say good bye to his short stint of a television show this spring. Berkus will not return for a third season with Harpo and Sony due to his failure of capturing an audience as well as the show just being to vague. During the shows run this past November, Berkus averaged a 1.1 rating which is 1.4 million viewers. These ratings have placed the show among the lowest established talk shows. On the other hand, two other Oprah spin offs are doing just fine. Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz have captured a solid audience and will return for another season thanks to their spotlight on psychological topics and medicine. "Berkus" is the first production that has come from Oprah's Harpo Studios to be a flop.

Coming off the island and into the studio this fall will be Survivor's host Jeff Probst. He will be apart of the several new daytime talk shows rolling out next year that will change the landscape of talk show television. To me this seems like a show that may take a similar path to that of Nate Berkus. I mean at least Berkus is a designer and can base a program off just that, but Probst what the heck does he do besides Survivor and why is anyone going to want to spend an hour of their day listening to him?!  Good luck with that one CBS.

Ricki Lake is back! After much success on Dancing with the Stars, based on the votes she received you can tell that she does have quite a following that potentially could flow over into a new talk show. This time around Lake's show will target 25 to 54 year old women and cover topics like relationships and diets. In regards to her show Lake said "I want to spark ideas and conversations and inspire people to take active roles in their communities, relationships, and their well being." Sounds like something that had been done a million times but with her existing fan base and ability to capture a new generation of women, Twentieth Television defiantly will have something to offer in this coming year of television.

Comedy is exactly what we need more of in television and Steve Harvey may just be the perfect person to tune into on a daily basis to get a laugh in every day. Harvey is said to be developing "a comedy show with talk show elements." Harvey says that the show will have an emphasis on "everyday people" rather than celebrities. Ding ding ding!!! That right there is exactly what daytime television needs. There are hours and hours of programming taking about this and that and she wore this and he did that, when it comes down to it, who the %$#^ cares! He also says that the show is like "Oprah, with a sense of humor." Audiences around the world already love Oprah, add a little laugh to that and a touch of Steve Harvey, the show will have no problem capturing a vast audience that will keep the show on for several seasons.

Queen Latifah is teaming up with Will Smith and his production company to bring an all new syndicated talk show to life hosted by Latifah. Many people say that Latifah will be the next Oprah but she says "No. Oprah is still Oprah, I'll be the next me. I feel like there's always a lane for me as long as I'm true to myself." As long as she stays true to herself and narrows in on a solid theme or topic to talk about day to day she to can begin to follow in the paths of the oh mighty one Oprah.

Nielsen Ratings Measurement to Online Video

Nielsen ratings are used to measure the audience size and composition of a specific television program. Nielsen Media Research announced that they plan to apply this same system to videos streaming online. Ratings collected from a specific online video can provide the following information:

• How many people saw a specific ad across platforms.
• How well it performed with demos.
• The impact the ad had on the brand.

Demo Snapshot: Holiday Specials

Nielsen ratings from the airing of the holiday classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on CBS show that the holiday flick still remains a favorite of both children and their parents. 

A total of 12.64 million viewers tuned in to kick of the Christmas season with Rudolph and his gang, giving it its largest overall audience in the past four years. Check out the demo breakdown below:

Women 50+ = 2.85 mil (22.5%)

Women 18-49 = 3.04 mil (24.0%)

Kids 2-7 = 2.94 mil (23.3%)

Men 50+ = 1.68 mil (13.3%)

Men 18-49 = 2.13 mil (16.9%)

ABC aired "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on December 5th and captured an overall audience of 9.1 million viewers and averaged a 2.8/8 in 18-49 - up 8% in this demo and about 1 million total viewers from last year.

Viewers who tuned into The Charlie Brown Christmas special may have noticed that it was missing some key scenes. The show runs just under 25.5 minutes long and was scheduled for a 30 minute block. Due to 8.5 minutes of commercials that must be added the holiday classic was cut down to 21.5 minutes of content.

Not to worry ABC will make your christmas wish come true on December 15th will the complete movie within an hour block special dedicated to Charlie Brown.

Angry Birds: Can it succeed outside the mobile market?

Rovio is the company responsible for sparking the global addiction to its mobile game app Angry Birds. Since its release in December 2009 it has been downloaded by 400 million mobile users, and counting generating around $100 million in revenue. Rovio VP Ville Heijari has plans to attempt at making the game of Angry Birds a global franchise across multiple markets.

Rovio has teamed up with the former chair of Marvel Studios, David Maisel who they hope to collaborate with and bring Angry Birds the game to life via movies, television, short films, and comic strips. The goal they are after here is to create a global franchise with the game that will last for a long period of time. 

The big question that Rovio faces really is can their plan of expanding its franchise beyond the mobile market be successful? There is a lot involved in creating a major franchise that can be as successful as those we have seen during our time like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Toy Story, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  First off the movie needs be able to take in a pretty penny at the box office to be even considered a success. The franchise must have mass appeal, an obsessive fan following, big Hollywood’s names, and of course some movie magic with lots of special effects. Lastly it absolutely MUST leave its mark on the movie industry and modern pop culture. 


Now lets see where Angry Birds may meet or fall short of these franchise requirements. Based off the major success and profits the game has already made, I feel that it defiantly has the potential to rake in big at the box office. The game already has its mass appeal and obsessive fan following. This can be seen on the subway, in class, on the bus, and at work by the wide age range and ethnicity of the angry birds addicts who cant stop pulling back the slingshot. 

Rovio has its franchise off to an excellent start as they have already jumped on selling a variety of Angry Birds products from plush toys, t-shirts, and cookbooks. You are even going to start to see promotions for the game when you pick up your Venti Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks every morning. All that is left for the Rovio team is to attach some big names to voice their animated characters, create a solid story line, and add some glitz and glam and they will be set up for a blockbuster hit.

To really capitalize in each movie market outside of the United States, Rovio should attach a well-known celebrity or icon from each country personalizing the film for the audiences of each location. Other than that I think Angry Birds truly has the potential to create a multi-million dollar movie franchise on its already overly successful mobile game.