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Family-friendly network FETV first launched in 2013, but in 2022 the company is making its strongest pitch to advertisers yet. The company entered the general marketplace in 2020, and during its upfront presentation in New York on Wednesday, FETV told marketers it just closed deals that will bring the network to 11 million new homes.
“Before we talk about how great we are, let’s talk about how big we are,” Karen Bressner, evp of national advertising sales, told Adweek. “What we have done with FETV is build an infrastructure, a programming schedule and ad sales opportunities that sells product.”
The network touted its strength in the adult 35-64 demo, and with growth 16% in total day and 12% in prime year-over-year in that age group.
“We’re building an advertiser base to take that message to, and our advertiser base has grown since the first national market deal two years ago,” said Bressner. “We’re now going to be presenting, over the next two months, our story, our growth, the impressions growth and the great audience growth that we bring to those monitors. That’s the story we’re telling.”
The network is currently in 42 million homes, and expects to reach 50 million homes by June.
“We can’t make a formal announcement because that will be announced once all the technology is put in place and we actually have those homes and that distribution in place,” said Bressner. “We show how much we’ve grown and how great our audience is, and it’s going to be even better when we have these other 11 million homes in place.”
Family-friendly classic programming
In its presentation, FETV emphasized its range of family-friendly classic series to appeal to the adults 25-54 demo, including drama series like Perry Mason and Mannix, westerns like The Lone Ranger, and sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver and Bewitched.
“We buy programming from a multitude of different companies,” said Bressner. “We’re not NBCUniversal, where most of our shows come from them, or Sony. We buy shows across all of these opportunities so that we could curate a channel that keeps its audience.”
On the movie front, the network added a Sunday matinee movie programming event, with Bressner pointing to the success of John Wayne movies on FETV. Beginning in July, the network will air a Perry Mason movie collection, followed by Gunsmoke in October.
FETV is adding Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman in October, which Bressner emphasized as a strength for the network.
“We think [it’s] a great addition for us because it’s a combination of a strong female character and a western, and we know how popular those are right now,” said Bressner. “That works really well with our audience.”
For FETV, the strongest ad categories include pharmaceuticals, home improvement, pet owners, financial and travel.
“If you just think about that whole profile, it’s people that are slightly older, that are at a point in their life where they don’t have their kids at home anymore, their expenses are less, they’ve paid off college and they’re spending money for themselves,” said Bressner.
