Content Enthusiasts Drive Programming and Sponsor Engagement

The Enthusiast concept seeks to breathe new life into content on Saturday and Sunday mornings across the network group39s History AampampE Lifetime and FYI brands The blocks of programming target some key audience passion pointsamp160and are largely comprised of hit programming original and reruns interlaced with content that promotes various advertiser productsExecutive Vice President of Ad Salesamp160Peter Olsenamp160explains that through an increase in advanced targeting and analytics AE was able to identify some audience passion points and Enthusiast meets their programming desires quotRather than finding the audience in programs scattered across our portfolio we are creating a destination of 39always on39 content dedicated to these passion categoriesquot he saysTwo Enthusiast genres are already up and running and have created a baseline of insights for future deals One is History39s quotOutdoorsquot which has been home to a campaign with the outdoor cooler and drinkware company Yeti and involves series like Mountain Men and Swamp People Then there is AampampE39s quotHomeMadequot which is powered by FYI and includes the series Tiny House NationRatings and Advertiser ResultsThe twopronged goal of creating a better viewing experience for passion audiences and a highly customizable scalable proposition for advertisers has started to pay offquotWith an audiencefirst approach and flexibility in our show formats we are seeing significant success on all frontsquot says Hoffman quotIn fact ratings for programming within an Enthusiast block that started last fall were up 20quotWe have also been able to change the audience dynamicsquot he adds amp160quotWhat we39re seeing in our 39HomeMade39 block is a significant increase in our upscale demographic profilequotThe results for advertiser products can also be significant Take for example the Yeti experience According to AE analytics the Yeti campaign saw the following increases68 in unaided brand awareness107 in ad recall31 in brand favorability31 in purchase intentNew Themes and OpportunitiesSeveral Enthusiast deals are just emerging with advertisers in such categories asamp160handheld power equipment recreational vehicles paint companies highend cookware suppliers and travel amp160As the momentum builds AE is expanding the types of Enthusiast program themes quotSelfMadequot their beauty and fashion block on Lifetime will premiere this fall An quotAutoquot block on History rolls out this summeramp160 Aamp160quotCollectiblesquot block on History is expected to debut in the fall with a new original show paired up with seriesamp160like Pawn StarsIn general Enthusiast advertisers have the option of complementing the network39s series episodes with interstitial programming that could include longform or shortform content the clients have created themselves amp160The blocks also can feature original shorts produced by inhouse agency 45th ampamp Dean that are informational in nature and feature the advertisers39 products with show talent as hosts For example two members of the Landry family stars of History39s Swamp People series hosted original content featuring Yeti productsTo create a better viewing experience reduced commercial loads are an optionamp160 Also each Enthusiast campaign has robust digital and social componentsDespite all the success Hoffman sees room for changeamp160 Theamp160plan is to build out a robust social and digital platform that runs 365 days a year to satisfy the desire for this kind of contentamp160quotAt the end of the day we want to have an ongoing dialog with that audience that39s not dependent solely on the linear platformquot he saysClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Content Enthusiasts Drive Programming and Sponsor Engagement

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Janet Stilson

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Content Enthusiasts Drive Programming and Sponsor Engagement

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