Broadcasters Expect to Bounce Back After Pandemic Plummet

When the 2020-21 TV season began a year ago, it did so without the usual fanfare of big September broadcast premieres, as pandemic-related delays and shutdowns postponed those debuts for weeks, if not months. But as a new television season starts this week, broadcasters are celebrating the return to their normal premiere schedules. As premiere week kicks off, “even though we’re not past the Covid of it all,” said Frances Berwick, chairman, entertainment networks at NBCUniversal television and streaming, “it feels like a much better position than we were in” a year ago. That’s because the broadcast networks had stumbled out of the gate with their patchwork pandemic schedules and were never able to fully recover. Almost all of them weathered double-digit losses in the adult 18-49 demo last year (CBS, which was flat, was the lone exception), and all had double-digit total audience losses. After “not having our team on the field [last fall], it’s exciting for all of us to feel that rush, bursting out of the locker room with our full complement of shows. We’ve missed it,” said CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl. Fall's Biggest Bets Here are the shows broadcasters think have the best chance of breaking out:ABC: Its reboot of The Wonder Years “is a show that, as families return to viewing in the fall, we think people of all ages are going to love,” said Erwich. CBS: New franchise spinoffs NCIS: Hawai’i, FBI: International and CSI: Vegas “check every single box for success in the current TV landscape,” said Kahl. Fox: Drama The Big Leap should appeal to people who “need a second chance” due to the pandemic, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier told Adweek in May. NBC: Sinkhole thriller La Brea “really does feel like a big family event show; a big, four-quadrant show,” said Berwick. Broadcasters are optimistic that they will be able to bring those viewers back to linear TV this fall. “I don’t underestimate the task in front of us—we’ve probably broken some longtime habits—but it feels like people are ready to get back to some degree of normalcy when it comes to television,” said Kahl. To that end, the networks are pulling out all the stops with their fall schedules. “We wanted to put the strongest lineup on in the fall that we possibly could,” said Kahl, who leaned heavily on procedural franchises like FBI, NCIS and CSI. There was similar thinking at NBC, where Berwick, in her new role leading program strategy for all the NBCU entertainment networks, crafted a schedule “around the things that we felt are really the ace in the hole for broadcast,” most notably the Dick Wolf-produced Chicago and Law & Order procedurals. “It sounds a little simplistic, but it’s what we think people still want to see on broadcast television,” Berwick explained. “I don’t think we can underestimate the scale that broadcast still delivers.” However, not all broadcasters are changing up their strategy this fall. At ABC, “we are not returning to normalcy; we’re continuing normalcy” following a “consistent cadence of original programming” on the network this year, including a pair of Bachelor franchise installments during the summer, said Craig Erwich, president at ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals. “So the audience is with us; we’re transitioning them into some new product.” For his first fall as ABC Entertainment chief, “our strategy is, first and foremost, focusing on creative excellence,” said Erwich. “We lead with the shows,” which “tap into very modern themes” and feature “incredible characters” and “diverse creators.” The huge early ratings for football—NBC’s NFL kickoff game had the largest audience since 2015—are validating execs’ beliefs that linear ratings can also rebound as more traditional viewing habits are reestablished. “You’re already starting to see those patterns coming back,” said Berwick. “If we can provide these huge, urgent-to-watch events that have real co-viewing, we will get people back.” Buyers are also optimistic about a ratings bounce back. “We’re very hopeful and excited for the fall that [audiences] will return,” said Carrie Drinkwater, chief investment officer at Mediahub. “Will they return to the levels of years ago? Probably not, but I don’t think we’ll see that erosion that we have been seeing.” If networks do succeed in getting more eyeballs than last fall, they like their chances of convincing those viewers to stick around for the season. “Hopefully, if we can reestablish those viewing habits and patterns, that momentum will carry us into the back half of the year,” said Kahl. “Then we’re going to have a stronger hand to play when we’re introducing some newer product.”

Programming & Performance

Broadcasters Expect Linear Bounce Back This Season After Pandemic Ratings Plummet

‘It feels like people are ready to get back to some degree of normalcy’

Jason Lynch

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Jason Lynch