Emmy-Nominated Cable, Streaming Shows Have Low Awareness

High-quality Emmy-nominated TV shows on cable and streaming services may not be getting enough on-air or other marketing support.

In a survey from TV sales rep Katz Media Group, 57% “never heard” of Emmy-nominated shows on cable networks. That’s the same number for shows on video streaming services. (Some 43% have had “awareness” of those shows.)

For example, 54% have “never heard of” FX’s “The Americans,” compared to 46% for HBO’s “West World,” 71% for HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” 58% for Netflix’s “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” 73% for Netflix’s “GLOW,” and 76% for Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

At broadcast networks, the situation is different.

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Those who “never heard” about Emmy-nominated shows on those networks is at a low level of 16% — 84% have had “awareness” of those programs. Looking at some specific shows, 18% of U.S. viewers “never heard of” NBC’s “This is Us,” while 15% never heard of ABC’s “Black-ish.”

Some TV marketing analysts are concerned there is an overall problem stemming from broadcast and cable ratings erosion. It is tougher to find scale for on-air show promos.

In response to this, Stacey Lynn Schulman, CMO of Katz Media Group, told Television News Daily that is true "to some degree."

But she also noted that premium cable networks and streaming services always seem to have bigger problems. “It’s hard to get over the closed system of paid viewers. It was always an issue for HBO and other pay cable offerings and is the same in the streaming landscape.”

Schulman added: “Broadcasters still have the biggest megaphone out there.”

The best “awareness” scores for a single Emmy-nominated show overall came from HBO’s "Game of Thrones." Only 7% never heard of the series, while 31% have watched the show, and 62% have “heard of [but] never watch” the series.

When it comes to Emmy-nominated shows, the Katz survey said 34% of respondents have watched those series on broadcast networks, 18% for shows on cable networks, and 11% for streaming services.

The show with the biggest score when it comes to “watched” goes to NBC’s “This is Us” -- 40% of respondents; HBO’s “Barry” at the lowest level, with 3%.

Katz's research comes from 600 adults 18 years and older, surveyed on September 4-10, with 63% of respondents subscribing to Netflix.

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