Mad Men’s heaps of praise from critics was validated with its Emmy wins this past Sunday night.
Make no mistake, while award shows don’t equal ratings - they do equal respect and force the industry on the whole to pause and take notice. Two things that have eluded basic cable in the scripted arena, respect and attention.
TNT and A&E are following suit of USA by continuing heavy spending in the scripted arena, with ratings to boot. And while the scripted arena is generally how folks approach growth and validity of the Television format - channels like History increasing their dollars in original content (albeit Realty based) and acquisitions and rebrandings like CourtTV now TruTV show that cable is poised to be the growth platform for some time. Dollars equal power.
In my opinion, the falling costs of production, distribution, and dvds make cable the big winner in scripted content production for the 5 years.
Factors that will play heavily are, DVR’s, Ad Revenue, and DVD value. While broadcast channels have an average viewer age of 50 years old - the coveted demo of 18-34 year olds that basically lives online - is still attracted to the right show, and the age specific programming that’s finding more and more of a home on cable. Further, 18-34 year olds aren’t opposed to cable, rather cable is generally factored into their checkbooks as a utility. I know in large, expensive cities like LA and NY that may not seem realistic but call your friends in secondary markets and ask if they have cable - the answer will most likely be: “who doesn’t?”
