To get a sense of their pecking order, consider the three core networks in NBC Universal’s Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks division as characters on the ’80s Peacock sitcom The Facts of Life. If Bravo is the wealthy, haughty Blair Warner and Oxygen the often bellicose Jo Polniaczek, then newcomer Style Network is Tootie, the Eastland School’s scrappy upstart.
Two months into the grand experiment that is the Comcast-NBCU merger, Style is already taking on some attributes of its new dormmates. The 12-year-old niche network is not only prepping its first major New York upfront event—a breakfast on April 12 in the penthouse of the Hudson Hotel—but is adopting 30 Rock’s signature research practices.
As is SOP under unit chief Lauren Zalaznick, Style is putting its target demo under the socioeconomic microscope. Tuesday’s upfront huddle will focus on a group of consumers the network characterizes as “Shoptimists,” meant to evoke a certain kind of woman between the age of 18 and 49 who is not only a confirmed shopping enthusiast, but a trusted brand evangelist.
While not necessarily profligate in her spending, a Style viewer ostensibly gets a serotonergic boost when spluging on a handbag or a new pair of shoes; moreover, her fashion sense makes her something of a style guru among her peer group.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Style has borrowed heavily from the Bravo playbook. Four years ago, Bravo introduced media buyers to the “Affluencers,” the network’s catchall designation for the free-spending trendsetters who make up its core audience. A year later, Oxygen trotted out “Generation O,” a clutch of young “trenders, spenders and recommenders.”
Foregoing some of the more overt marketing frippery, Style president Salaam Coleman Smith explains that the net’s target viewer is valued for the way she consumes entertainment programming. “She doesn’t view television as a form of escapism,” Coleman Smith said.
“She’s coming to us to get ideas.”
