Taylor
2009-09-05 23:28:38 UTC
Cable channel shift reflects Disney's boy trouble
By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business
Writer, KJIH-TV Media "We're Everywhere!"
Thu Sep 3, 6:49 am ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_en_tv/us_disney_tween_boys
BURBANK, Calif. – A funny thing happened on the way to remaking the
Toon
Disney channel into one that catered to "tween" boys: It got a lot
more
popular with girls.
Perhaps it's because teenagers Hutch Dano and Adam Hicks, the stars
of
the channel's most popular new show, "Zeke and Luther," exude a goofy
innocence in a scrubbed-clean environment.
Whatever the reason, the slightly off-kilter rebranding effort at the
channel now called Disney XD highlights a larger problem at The Walt
Disney Co.: It has had difficulty winning over young male audiences.
Disney announced part of the solution this week, agreeing to buy
comic
book giant Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion, bringing
characters
like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the house of Hannah Montana,
Cinderella
and Pocahontas.
A closer look at Disney's ongoing efforts with the XD channel — where
prime-time ratings this summer nearly doubled among boys aged 9 to 14
but
tripled among girls the same age — helps explain why the company
wanted
Marvel's outside firepower in its quest for boy-focused content.
While there's no harm in attracting more girls to the channel, Disney
also wants to draw more advertising for boy-focused products like
video
games and action figure toys.
That might have taken years on its own. Now Marvel is expected to
bring
more superhero power to Disney XD, adding to the 20 hours per week
that
Marvel content already runs on the network.
That could be a big boost at Disney's cable division, which includes
ESPN, the Disney Channel and ABC Family, and is increasingly
important
for the company, especially as DVD sales sag. The cable networks
account
for more than a quarter of Disney's revenue and more than half of its
profit, and have launched some of Disney's biggest stars.
But going after a more male audience is a tough slog. Boys are
fickle.
They demand authenticity and appreciate a snarky sense of humor, while
at
other times, they just want to immerse themselves in fantasy worlds
and
animation.
Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, said the goal of
rebranding Toon Disney as Disney XD was always "to create this
destination for boys that is still inclusive of girls."
And the shift has already helped bring in some new ads.
Electronic Arts Inc. boosted its advertising spending about 30
percent
this year on Disney XD after its switch, mainly to advertise kid-
friendly
video games such as "MySims Racing" and "Madden NFL 10."
Higher ratings and more girl viewers should help sell more games,
said
Amber Mayo, EA's director of media strategy.
"It's not unexpected that we're seeing XD pop up with more girl
numbers.
That's great for us. That's a bonus to me," she said.
The openness to girls was part of the design of "Zeke and Luther,"
according to executive producer Matt Dearborn. Amid their tomfoolery,
the
lead characters sometimes turn to the camera to agonize over
decisions,
expressing self-doubt in a way that is reassuring to girl audiences,
he
said.
"There's a vulnerability behind their bravado and swagger," Dearborn
said
after a recent writers' session. "For a girl viewer, I think they
feel
like they're getting a peek into `the secret world of boys.'"
Disney XD also is rounding out its schedule with "I'm in the Band," a
sitcom, set to air in October, about a teenager who joins a washed-up
'80s rock band that moves in with him and his single mother.
When a reporter visited the set recently, crews were shooting a
flashback
scene that explored an event from the rockers' irresponsible past —
when
they swung at a pinata in their van.
"It's doing a show about rock 'n' roll without the sex and drugs,"
said
executive producer Michael Kaplan. "There's the whole fantasy of being
in
a rock band, but there's also just the fun of being a kid with these
three crazy idiots who are just making his life chaos, which is just
a
very boy-friendly thing."
One big challenge for Disney is that the boys market is well served.
Time Warner Inc.'s Cartoon Network, whose audience is more than 70
percent boys, plans to roll out the second season of George Lucas'
popular "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" series this fall.
Cartoon Network is also branching into live-action and reality TV
shows
that leave little doubt about their target audience. "Dude, What
Would
Happen" features a group of teenage boys who try stunts like
installing a
lemonade tank into the hood of a car. "My Dad's a Pro" follows the
Boston
Celtics' Eddie House through the eyes of his 8-year-old son, Jaelen.
"We think we have a finger on the pulse of boys," said Stuart Snyder,
president of Turner Broadcasting Inc.'s animation, young adults and
kids
media group, which houses Cartoon Network.
Ron Geraci, a senior vice president of research for the Nickelodeon
kids
and family group, questioned Disney's focus on boys.
Nickelodeon's tween audience draws almost equally between boys and
girls
on such shows as "SpongeBob Squarepants," "iCarly," and "Penguins of
Madagascar."
"One of the fallacies in the kids marketplace has been that you can't
program to both boys and girls," Geraci said. "We think the
commonality
among boys and girls is comedy and we've proved it time and again."
Indeed, Nickelodeon's average audience is 2.2 million, while Disney
XD
gets close to 300,000. Disney XD is expected to bring in $220 million
in
revenue this year — peanuts compared with $1.9 billion at Viacom
Inc.-
owned Nickelodeon and $573 million at Cartoon Network, according to
estimates by research firm SNL Kagan.
Ross, the head of Disney Channels, says skeptics shouldn't bet against
a
company that has turned out such unexpected franchises as "High
School
Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "The Jonas Brothers."
"We keep on believing in the property and the world returns our
favor,"
Ross said. "My expectations are high but I'm a patient man."
By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business
Writer, KJIH-TV Media "We're Everywhere!"
Thu Sep 3, 6:49 am ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_en_tv/us_disney_tween_boys
BURBANK, Calif. – A funny thing happened on the way to remaking the
Toon
Disney channel into one that catered to "tween" boys: It got a lot
more
popular with girls.
Perhaps it's because teenagers Hutch Dano and Adam Hicks, the stars
of
the channel's most popular new show, "Zeke and Luther," exude a goofy
innocence in a scrubbed-clean environment.
Whatever the reason, the slightly off-kilter rebranding effort at the
channel now called Disney XD highlights a larger problem at The Walt
Disney Co.: It has had difficulty winning over young male audiences.
Disney announced part of the solution this week, agreeing to buy
comic
book giant Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion, bringing
characters
like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the house of Hannah Montana,
Cinderella
and Pocahontas.
A closer look at Disney's ongoing efforts with the XD channel — where
prime-time ratings this summer nearly doubled among boys aged 9 to 14
but
tripled among girls the same age — helps explain why the company
wanted
Marvel's outside firepower in its quest for boy-focused content.
While there's no harm in attracting more girls to the channel, Disney
also wants to draw more advertising for boy-focused products like
video
games and action figure toys.
That might have taken years on its own. Now Marvel is expected to
bring
more superhero power to Disney XD, adding to the 20 hours per week
that
Marvel content already runs on the network.
That could be a big boost at Disney's cable division, which includes
ESPN, the Disney Channel and ABC Family, and is increasingly
important
for the company, especially as DVD sales sag. The cable networks
account
for more than a quarter of Disney's revenue and more than half of its
profit, and have launched some of Disney's biggest stars.
But going after a more male audience is a tough slog. Boys are
fickle.
They demand authenticity and appreciate a snarky sense of humor, while
at
other times, they just want to immerse themselves in fantasy worlds
and
animation.
Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, said the goal of
rebranding Toon Disney as Disney XD was always "to create this
destination for boys that is still inclusive of girls."
And the shift has already helped bring in some new ads.
Electronic Arts Inc. boosted its advertising spending about 30
percent
this year on Disney XD after its switch, mainly to advertise kid-
friendly
video games such as "MySims Racing" and "Madden NFL 10."
Higher ratings and more girl viewers should help sell more games,
said
Amber Mayo, EA's director of media strategy.
"It's not unexpected that we're seeing XD pop up with more girl
numbers.
That's great for us. That's a bonus to me," she said.
The openness to girls was part of the design of "Zeke and Luther,"
according to executive producer Matt Dearborn. Amid their tomfoolery,
the
lead characters sometimes turn to the camera to agonize over
decisions,
expressing self-doubt in a way that is reassuring to girl audiences,
he
said.
"There's a vulnerability behind their bravado and swagger," Dearborn
said
after a recent writers' session. "For a girl viewer, I think they
feel
like they're getting a peek into `the secret world of boys.'"
Disney XD also is rounding out its schedule with "I'm in the Band," a
sitcom, set to air in October, about a teenager who joins a washed-up
'80s rock band that moves in with him and his single mother.
When a reporter visited the set recently, crews were shooting a
flashback
scene that explored an event from the rockers' irresponsible past —
when
they swung at a pinata in their van.
"It's doing a show about rock 'n' roll without the sex and drugs,"
said
executive producer Michael Kaplan. "There's the whole fantasy of being
in
a rock band, but there's also just the fun of being a kid with these
three crazy idiots who are just making his life chaos, which is just
a
very boy-friendly thing."
One big challenge for Disney is that the boys market is well served.
Time Warner Inc.'s Cartoon Network, whose audience is more than 70
percent boys, plans to roll out the second season of George Lucas'
popular "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" series this fall.
Cartoon Network is also branching into live-action and reality TV
shows
that leave little doubt about their target audience. "Dude, What
Would
Happen" features a group of teenage boys who try stunts like
installing a
lemonade tank into the hood of a car. "My Dad's a Pro" follows the
Boston
Celtics' Eddie House through the eyes of his 8-year-old son, Jaelen.
"We think we have a finger on the pulse of boys," said Stuart Snyder,
president of Turner Broadcasting Inc.'s animation, young adults and
kids
media group, which houses Cartoon Network.
Ron Geraci, a senior vice president of research for the Nickelodeon
kids
and family group, questioned Disney's focus on boys.
Nickelodeon's tween audience draws almost equally between boys and
girls
on such shows as "SpongeBob Squarepants," "iCarly," and "Penguins of
Madagascar."
"One of the fallacies in the kids marketplace has been that you can't
program to both boys and girls," Geraci said. "We think the
commonality
among boys and girls is comedy and we've proved it time and again."
Indeed, Nickelodeon's average audience is 2.2 million, while Disney
XD
gets close to 300,000. Disney XD is expected to bring in $220 million
in
revenue this year — peanuts compared with $1.9 billion at Viacom
Inc.-
owned Nickelodeon and $573 million at Cartoon Network, according to
estimates by research firm SNL Kagan.
Ross, the head of Disney Channels, says skeptics shouldn't bet against
a
company that has turned out such unexpected franchises as "High
School
Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "The Jonas Brothers."
"We keep on believing in the property and the world returns our
favor,"
Ross said. "My expectations are high but I'm a patient man."