Holy Shark! Syfy Builds a Franchise Without Traditional Ads

Network relies on social, barter, word of mouth

Turns out your best marketing tool is word of mouth, especially if the mouth in question is filled with rows of gigantic, serrated teeth. 

Dave Howe, president of Syfy, attributed the most recent success to the marketing and PR teams who found innovative ways to talk up the flick, but noted that its stars got into the game in a big way, too.

Last night's Sharknado 2 pulled in 1.6 million demo viewers and 3.9 million viewers total, in addition to an incredible Twitter presence, turning yet another entry in an increasingly silly series of marine-life-attacks sci-fi movies into a bona fide telepic franchise.

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