Sept. 4, 2024: Why On-Air Still Matters to CBS CMO Mike Benson; Awesome Inc.'s Awesome TBS Spots for 'Friends' 30th
The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences
To promote the 30th anniversary of?Friends, which debuted on NBC?on September 22, 1994 and now airs in perpetuity on cable network TBS, Atlanta-based animation company?Awesome Inc.took on the challenge of creating an entire campaign with no in-show footage whatsoever. The result is a fun and vibrant animated campaign that merges beloved moments from the show with bold colors and TBS branding.?
The campaign hinges on the voices -- rather than the images -- of the cast, with whom viewers have grown so familiar. The campaign makes fun jingles out of the show’s well-known catchphrases, such as “pivot!” and “how you doin’?” Phoebe’s favorite song, “Smelly Cat,” also gets its very own spot.?
Friends'?30th anniversary mega-marathons are running on TBS from July 29 through the show’s birthday on September 22.?
Here are a few facts you probably didn’t know about CBS.?
?In the 2023-24 TV season, CBS, which turns 100 in September 2027, premiered TV’s most-watched scripted series with rookie one-hour drama?Tracker, starring Justin Hartley, averaging nearly 11 million viewers per outing, according to Nielsen Media Research. (Nielsen’s numbers do not include streaming data but as much as half of network viewing occurs later on streaming platforms.)?
?Following?Tracker, the next six out of the following seven most-watched scripted series on television all air on CBS:?NCIS,?Young Sheldon,?FBI,?Blue Bloods,?60 Minutes?and?Ghosts. And CBS’?Survivor?– the progenitor of the modern-reality show, having debuted in 2000 – was last season’s top entertainment program in the key adult 18-49 demographic.?
That didn’t all come about accidentally. Behind every great show is a great marketing campaign, and today, those campaigns run not just on CBS but on streaming services and social media. To some extent, co-owned CBS and Paramount Plus serve as marketing platforms for each other. And far more thought goes into every campaign than just running a :30 in primetime.
?The architect of CBS’ marketing strategy is Mike Benson, president and chief marketing officer of CBS, who joined the company in 2019 after running marketing for Amazon Studios for the previous four years. Benson oversees all CBS marketing activities, including brand, advertising, promotion, creative, social media, digital and experiential marketing across CBS Entertainment, CBS Sports, CBS News and Stations, CBS Media Ventures, CBS Studios and more.?He brought a data-centric point of view with him from Amazon, married to a brand marketer's creative focus.?
Benson talked to?Spotlight?about how CBS has evolved as a brand and as a network and what he thinks strategic marketing can contribute to that evolution. Read the edited interview?here.
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?Reports of entertainment’s demise are rife right now but the music industry, which has already made its transition to streaming and subscriptions, continues to rise.According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)’s mid-year revenue report, music revenues are up 4% to a record $8.7 billion in estimated value over the first half of the year. Music streaming subscriptions increased 3% to 99 million subscribers and rose to $5.7 billion, representing nearly two-thirds of total recorded-music revenues in the first half of 2024. Music revenues in the U.S. have grown each year since 2016, although last year they were up 8% compared to this year’s 4% thus far.
What makes checking out the nominees of G.E.M.A.’s TV/Streaming Awards -- Global competition so much fun is that they highlight work from all around the world – work that is hard to see unless you are in that region.?Watching them is like taking a brief trip to a place you might not otherwise ever get to go.
G.E.M.A. on Tuesday released the?nominees for the 2024 TV/Streaming Awards -- Global?and among the nominated categories are Brand Design Total Package, Brand Image - Rebrand, Refresh or Relaunch, Opening Title Credits and many more.?
G.E.M.A. will celebrate the winners of this year’s TV/Streaming awards later this year in Los Angeles. Stay tuned for more details and in the meantime, check out all of the nominees?here.