One thing that puzzles me about GSN

[jbrocato]

I have now had GSN for about three months now and have noticed one thing.  Except for marathons, they never promote the classic games on their schedule.  I never see an ad for Match Game, Family Feud, or Card Sharks, for instance.  However, they run LOTS of commercials for arguably the network's two worst shows:  Cram and National Lampoon's Funny Money.

I would think that among their originals, they would try to promote Whammy! the most.

John Brocato

[PeterMarshallFan]

Well, they promote the new \"classics\" [if you can call them that] when they premiere but abandon them after approx. 4 months. I really think if they were promoed more, classics would do better. But this is Rich \"Originalman\" Cronin we're talking about here, who pulled Trivia Trap halfway through the run and won't revive \"Game of the Week,\" so don't hold your breath.

[Matt Ottinger]

However, they run LOTS of commercials for arguably the network's two worst shows: Cram and National Lampoon's Funny Money.

If we completely accept your assessment, one could certainly make the case that the shows that need the most promotion would be the worst ones!

However, the more likely explanation is that just about any cable network is going to spend the vast, vast majority of their promotional time and money promoting their prime time lineup.  I don't think it has anything to do with \"classics vs originals\", I think it's simply a matter of getting people tuned in at night.  The other thing is that people don't need to be reminded of what \"Match Game\" and \"The Newlywed Game\" are, while shows like Cram and Funny Money simply aren't as well known.

[HSquares2003]

[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Aug 30 2003, 03:28 PM\'] Well, they promote the new "classics" [if you can call them that] when they premiere but abandon them after approx. 4 months. I really think if they were promoed more, classics would do better. But this is Rich "Originalman" Cronin we're talking about here, who pulled Trivia Trap halfway through the run and won't revive "Game of the Week," so don't hold your breath. [/quote]
 And they did run the \"Lingo\" promotions in the ground for season 2. It is one of the originals I like, but the promotion simply got old real quick


This \"California Governor\" manure is really starting to tick me off. I may or may not tune in for it on Oct. 1, so they need to stop reminding me 50 times a day! Geez.

[PeterMarshallFan]

[quote name=\'HSquares2003\' date=\'Aug 30 2003, 09:07 PM\'] [quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Aug 30 2003, 03:28 PM\'] Well, they promote the new \"classics\" [if you can call them that] when they premiere but abandon them after approx. 4 months. I really think if they were promoed more, classics would do better. But this is Rich \"Originalman\" Cronin we're talking about here, who pulled Trivia Trap halfway through the run and won't revive \"Game of the Week,\" so don't hold your breath. [/quote]
And they did run the \"Lingo\" promotions in the ground for season 2. It is one of the originals I like, but the promotion simply got old real quick


This \"California Governor\" manure is really starting to tick me off. I may or may not tune in for it on Oct. 1, so they need to stop reminding me 50 times a day! Geez. [/quote]
I actually haven't watched GSN in days. I recently found I now get Nick GAS with my nifty new digital cable system [but no G4, so no Starcade...shoot] and that has a pretty good plate of classics. Their advertising methods [showing the same commercial every half-hour, for example] are unorthodox, but I gotta remember that this channel is selling to people 30 years younger than me. That's not the case with GSN, which has no idea whatsoever who it's aiming for.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'HSquares2003\' date=\'Aug 30 2003, 08:07 PM\']This \"California Governor\" manure is really starting to tick me off. I may or may not tune in for it on Oct. 1, so they need to stop reminding me 50 times a day! Geez.[/quote]
There was a survey in the news recently that Nielsen did for Lifetime that mentioned that GSN had one of the longer \"time spent watching\" averages among cable networks.  (I'd have posted  it but it didn't include GSN's actual number and Lifetime's press releases are not available on their web site to the general public.)  But considering that the *longest* TSW of the networks mentioned was SoapNet with 28 minutes per viewing (and the shortest being MTV and the Weather Channel with around 10 minutes or less), I'm guessing that GSN averages around 20 minutes.  And that's in one fell swoop in a day.  Which isn't very much.

And that's why they *all* run promos over and over and over again--to catch those people who only stay with a channel for 20 minutes (or less).  And MTV's TSW average might be even shorter if vidclips still made up most of its programming (\"Huh huh huh huh, Beyonce sucks\"--Click!).  Yes, it may seem like you're penalizing and testing the patience of your loyal viewers, but that's how television works in 2003.