I’d imagine it’s a combination of the things mentioned—ratings/viewership, compatibility of the tapes, number of episodes, possibly the Shriner’s deal.
We don't know Buzzr's numbers, do we? What if this is one of the most popular shows on the schedule? Perhaps that gets it bumped up to the top the priority list on conversions. It really is one of those low key favorites a lot people remember fondly.
It would be very interesting to see their ratings numbers. I doubt they subscribe to Nielsen (a lot of small networks don’t, as it’s pretty expensive). But they probably have some kind of viewership data—likely from
Comscore or a smaller outfit like that.
I’ve found it odd that Sweep gets an hour in prime time nearly every night while some traditionally far bigger-name shows don’t. But you very well may be right—it may be a low key favorite that, after being off TV for years, has found a loyal viewership base.
I don't know for certain, but I really do think it's attributable to Shriners Hospitals. For many, many months (over a year?), every episode of Buzzr's Supermarket Sweep has treated us to a Shriners logo placed prominently on the screen while David welcomes us to the show. If there's a deal to link the two entities, then that's where Buzzr is going to focus its conversion efforts.
I’m a little hesitant to jump on this theory, because I’m pretty sure the charity spots are PPI, plus I’d think having a for-profit sponsor like Consumer Cellular (which has been the primary sponsor of Card Sharks for a while) would be quite a bit more valuable.
But that’s speculation on my part. I don’t know the terms of the Shriner’s deal, so you may be right. And if this the reason for Sweep’s push, it does give BUZZR some good philanthropic cred.
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While we’re doing BUZZR Q&A... Has it been said what the status of
Let’s Make a Deal is? I know it was an anchor show for BUZZR when they first launched. But I don’t think they’ve run it at all since they started streaming, which seems odd since that brought in a completely new audience.
Has some issue popped up with CBS? (It would seem strange, after apparently having no problem with BUZZR & GSN both running classic LMAD for the first 10 years of Brady’s run, for CBS to suddenly have an issue with it; but who knows with these people?) Or has some hangup developed with Monty’s estate? Or is it just getting a rather lengthy rest in the vault?
