Welcome to a new month and the government shutdown. In protest, I’m shutting down my contribution to JacoBLOG for a day and turning things over to Mike Stern. He’s a guy who watches a lot of TV, and today, he’s got some observations about one of the most hyped shows in television history and what it might mean to radio. – FJ
Okay, I’ll admit it. Watching prime time game shows is a guilty pleasure at my house. My wife and I can be quite competitive and bragging rights are on the line. So as you might expect, we dutifully tuned in to the heavily hyped Million Second Quiz on NBC and were blown away by just how awful it was.
Now when I say “heavily hyped,” I’m not exaggerating. According to a New York Times article, the show was part of a Comcast (which owns NBC) strategy called “symphony.” This is where the media giant tries to rally of all its myriad of available platforms around promoting an event or show. Notable examples of the “symphony” in full-effect include coverage of the Summer Olympics and promotion of The Voice.
But in this case, all the promotion that Comcast has thrown at Million Second Quiz hasn’t helped because its ratings have been steadily declining over the course of the show’s multi-night run. Having watched an episode, I can tell you that the station’s failure in the ratings wasn’t for a lack of promotion – it was due to an extreme lack of content.
First, the format of the game was so convoluted that after watching a 60-minute episode, I still can’t tell you how it works. Beyond the basic premise of people facing each other in timed battles to see who could correctly answer more trivia questions, I still can’t explain what it takes to actually walk away with cash. And apparently I
wasn’t the only one who was confused. A Hollywood Reporter article referred to the show as “the most confusing game show ever not fully explained to me by the host.”
The confusing format might have been forgivable since I was only really watching to play along and compete with my wife. But in the hour of programming, I saw only three trivia battles that lasted three minutes each; less than 10 minutes of actual quizzing. The rest of the show was comprised of commercials, sponsor plugs and vignettes with the top money winners who were living at the set for some reason. Hopefully, for their sakes, it involved actually taking home money because there are reports that being there wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Where contestants came from was also confusing. Some just showed up on site in New York while others across the country played online and were selected by the producers to be flown to New York as a “line jumper.” I saw one of those vignettes where the person was supposedly being surprised at their home and all I can say is the whole thing looked utterly fake.
The scariest part of this whole experience though is how much it reminded me of some radio promotions I’ve encountered. All too often, stations launch concepts that are hard to explain, create too many hoops for winners to jump through, come up with too many ways to qualify and, worst of all, fail to program entertaining content for casual listeners to enjoy.
And it doesn’t matter how much promotional firepower you put behind a format, morning show, or contest that simply had design and execution issues while on the launching pad.
In the case of the “symphony” of promotion around Million Second Quiz, the problem wasn’t the musicians in the orchestra. They played the notes of the pre-promotion — which included special segments on Today, Ryan Seacrest showing up at the first game of the NFL season (OK, that was a poorly targeted promotional idea), and other newscasts, graphics on the bottom of the screen in other shows, social media marketing – perfectly creating higher than average awareness of the show before launch and good initial ratings.
The problem was the choice of “concerto.” Even with a great conductor like Ryan Seacrest and truckloads of promotional support from the network and Comcast, the Million Second Quiz couldn’t overcome poor content and a faulty concept – something to consider the next time you are preparing to mobilize the “orchestra” at
your radio station.
If you don’t start with a great piece of music, the best musicians, or airstaff, in the world are still going to hit a sour note.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
- Radio + Thanksgiving = Gratitude - November 27, 2024
- Is It Quittin’ Time For SiriusXM? - November 26, 2024
- Radio, It Oughta Be A Crime - November 25, 2024
Good observation … I would think the concept and the execution probably fell into a political tidal wave in the actual conceptual process and the finished product rolled out like that . Speaking from radio so many promotional concepts have to go through a committee now and that of course dilutes it .. it’s not just the pd who approves them any more but a collective effort that includes the sales manager and sometimes gm in certain instances .. So while the listener ultimately gets the short end of the stick .. It really makes you appreciate branding executives that get that listener benefit concept and are able to navigate through the noise to get that simple entertaining finished product that listeners respond to .
It really stinks sitting through a terrible product. Which is why I don’t watch network tv nearly as much as I used to .. And it sounds like the executive producer who probably ripped the show off from some bbc show maybe got lost in translation …
The more people involved (and you left out consultants), the harder it is to execute a simple concept. Smaller rooms are always preferable. Thanks, Frnak.
Totally Fred. Sorry for the oversight:)
Yet, Seacrest STILL walks away unscathed. The man is invincible.
Maybe, but like a great actor who ends up in a bad movie, there’s still that taint. Thanks, JC.
And of course the execution and concept must be simple to understand … That’s a given
all the promotion in the world will not make bad content good….Options are many…..
Tom, don’t we know it! Thanks for your wizened POV.