Exclusiveness

**Lighthammer** · 09-10-2007, 01:15 PM

Here's something for everyone to consider:

Over the weekend I heard a really logical example of 'exclusiveness' in the US that seems very applicable to the current state of not only CN/Toonami but Toons in general.

Mercez Benz is obviously known as one of the best built cars available on the market. Because of its well crafted design, it's generally EXTREMELY expensive.

A few years back, Mercez Benz just weren't selling so they started to drop the price on them to drive sales. First they dropped it a little but as that didn't generate any sales, they started to drop them more and more and more.

Finally, the cars themselves were priced the same as high end Fords but still weren't moving.

The solution to the problem was installing a new person in the marketing department that thought lowering the price on such an exclusive car was a bad idea in the first place so they jacked the price up and the cars all of a sudden started selling again.

This is an example of exclusiveness. Generally people want something that they have a problem getting.

Cartoon decline over the last several years could be a direct result of this in general. WB and Fox in particular are largely responsible in the totality of this wake because they took their most popular shows and played them endlessly on weekends, forcing them to always up the annie during the weekends and burn through series that could have lasted a lot longer.

In the case of Naruto for instance, why plan your schedule around watching Naruto if you can catch the encore and a new episode NEXT WEEK.

Cartoon Network in general has become very bad with overplaying series detracting from that exclusive feeling. If a show is EXCLUSIVE to a block and a single showing a week, you're gonna want to watch it.

In conjunction with Marathons to help sell the product on a initial run, keeping something as exclusive as possible makes it feel more special and thus brings in greater ratings for its premiers.

**Neo Ultra Mike** · 09-10-2007, 01:35 PM

The thing is though that reruns sometimes actually garner more ratings then the original showing of an episode. Not to mention there are times when people just aren't able to catch the episode on it's first run through and may only be able to catch it around a nearby repeat slot. Also in order to get the show/episode more exposure they show it more then once. I mean really it is a general policy of most networks. CN overindluges in it sure but just as much as say Nick and Cartoon Network. In fact the most exclusive shows on Toonami are the ones not really doing as well, so the more repeats and showings you get the more popular/profitable you are the bigger chance you'll actually stay on the line up.

**Lighthammer** · 09-10-2007, 01:57 PM

Oh, theres no question reruns help the cause but you need to keep some sense of exclusiveness within the premier slot which most networks who showed cartoons had a hardtime doing.

The weekdays should almost be reserved for throw way, rewatchable series (Totally Spies is a great example of this) or repeats.

However, to maintain the exclusiveness potential of series in premiers, there should be a line between what they will and wont show on weekdays.

Lets say a given series has three seasons. The first and second seasons should be free to show on weekday rerun slots where as the third season should be exclusive to the premier slot until the completion of the season.

That said, its my opinion sesaons should be more tightly divided by quarters of a year. 13 week chunks is a great deal of time to show a large amount of exclusive content before opening that much up for rerun potential.

The whole exlusiveness idea isn't meant to disenfranchise those who couldn't watch and those who had their VCRs/Digital records debunk on them; its simply meant to keep far enough ahead of what can be shown weekdays to make the block 'special'.

All that said, using exclusiveness as well as stringent block and season guidelines in of itself doesn't immediate dictate success. You need to support the process the entire way by micro managing through content helpers such as bumpers or episode highlights.