Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule.
Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation to regularly change the scheduling of their shows to build an audience for a new show, retain that audience, or compete with other broadcasters' shows. Most broadcast television shows are presented weekly in prime time or daily in other dayparts, though there are many exceptions.
At a micro level, scheduling is the minute planning of the transmission; what to broadcast and when, ensuring an adequate or maximum utilization of airtime. Television scheduling strategies are employed to give shows the best possible chance of attracting and retaining an audience. They are used to deliver shows to audiences when they are most likely to want to watch them and deliver audiences to advertisers in the composition that makes their advertising most likely to be effective. [1]
With the growth of digital platforms and services allowing non-linear, on-demand access to television content, this approach to broadcasting has since been referred to using the retronym linear (such as linear television and linear channels). [2] [3] [4]
With the beginning of scheduled television in 1936, television programming was initially only concerned with filling a few hours each evening – the hours now known as prime time. Over time, though, television began to be seen during the daytime and late at night, as well on the weekends. As air time increased, so did the demand for new material. With the exception of sports television, variety shows became much more important in prime time.
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(March 2024) |
Broadcasters may schedule a program to air before or after a widely viewed tent-pole program, such as a popular series, or a special such as a high-profile sporting event (such as, in the United States, the Super Bowl), in the hope that audience flow will encourage the audience to tune-in early or stay for the second program. The second program is usually one that the broadcaster wants to promote to a wider audience, such as a new or lower-profile series. [5] [6] Sometimes, a lower-profile program may be scheduled between two tentpole programs, a technique known as hammocking .
Lead-outs can sometimes help to launch new programs and talent; in 1982, NBC premiered Late Night with David Letterman as a lead-out for its long-running late-night talk show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Characterized by an off-beat style appealing to young adults, Late Night helped launch the career of host David Letterman, and influence later entries into the genre. Despite Carson's endorsement of Letterman as a successor following his 1992 retirement, NBC chose Jay Leno instead, and Letterman departed for CBS to host a spiritual successor— Late Show with David Letterman—beginning in the 1993–94 season. Late Night would continue as a franchise with hosts such as Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon—both of whom would later go on to host The Tonight Show. [7] [8] [9]
The same season, Fox scheduled The X-Files as a lead-out for its sci-fi western The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., with the expectation that Brisco County Jr. would serve as the anchor of its Friday-night lineup. However, The X-Files proved to be significantly more successful, and would eventually run for nine seasons. By contrast, viewership for Brisco County Jr. declined throughout the season, and the show was cancelled. [10] [11] [12] [13] Fox attempted to use other sci-fi shows as a lead-in for The X-Files (such as Sliders and VR.5 ), but they were similarly unsuccessful. [14] [15] [16]
A weak lead-in can have an impact on the viewership of programs that follow; NBC's 2009 attempt to strip the talk show The Jay Leno Show (a spiritual successor to Leno's tenure of The Tonight Show after Conan O'Brien succeeded him) in a 10:00 p.m. ET/PT timeslot proved detrimental to the viewership of late local newscasts on its affiliates. [17] [18] NBC subsequently announced plans to shorten The Jay Leno Show to a half hour and move it to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT in late-February 2010, displacing The Tonight Show from its traditional timeslot. This proposal led to a public conflict between O'Brien and NBC, and ultimately resulted in his departure from the network, and the reinstatement of Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show. [19] [20]
Block programming is the practice of scheduling a group of complementary programs together. Blocks are typically built around specific genres (i.e. a block focusing specifically on sitcoms), target audiences, or other factors, with their programming often promoted collectively under blanket titles (such as ABC's "TGIF" lineup and NBC's "Must See TV").
Bridging is the practice of discouraging the audience from changing channels during the "junctions" between specific programs. This can be done, primarily, by airing promos for the next program near the end of the preceding program, such as during its credits, [21] or reducing the length of the junction between two programs as much as possible (hot switching). The host of the next program may similarly make a brief appearance near the end of the preceding program (sometimes interacting directly with the host) to provide a preview; in news broadcasting, this is typically referred to as a "throw" or "toss". [22]
A bridge was used by ABC between Roseanne and the December 1992 series premiere of The Jackie Thomas Show , a new sitcom co-created by Roseanne and Tom Arnold of Roseanne fame. A scene of the Connor family watching its opening on TV seamlessly transitioned into the program itself, with no junction in between. ABC commissioned a minute-by-minute Nielsen ratings report, which showed that the majority of viewers from Roseanne had been retained during the premiere. [23] [24]
Owing to both programs' news comedy formats, the Comedy Central program The Daily Show used newscast-style toss segments to promote its new spin-off and lead-out, The Colbert Report , in which host Jon Stewart would engage in a comedic conversation with the latter's host, Stephen Colbert, via split-screen. [22] On the December 18, 2014 episode of The Daily Show, this segment was used to seamlessly segue into the series finale of The Colbert Report. At its conclusion, the show transitioned back to Stewart (giving the impression that the entire Colbert Report episode was merely a segment of The Daily Show), who concluded his show with its traditional closing segment "Your Moment of Zen" (which featured an outtake from a previous toss segment) as normal. [25] [26]
In some cases, a channel may intentionally allow a program to overrun into the next half-hour timeslot rather than end exactly on the half-hour, in order to discourage viewers from "surfing" away at traditional junction periods (since they had missed the beginnings of programs on other channels already). This can, however, cause disruptions with recorders if they are not aware of the scheduling (typically, digital video recorders can be configured to automatically record for a set length of time before and after a schedule's given timeslot in program guide data to account for possible variances). [27] [28] For a period, TBS intentionally scheduled all of its programs at 5 and 35 minutes past the hour rather than exactly on the half hour (a practice it marketed as "Turner Time"), to attract viewers tuning away from other channels. [29]
Crossovers can be organized between multiple programs, in which a single storyline is extended across episodes of two or more separate programs. Typically, these involve programs that form a single franchise or shared universe, such as NBC's Chicago franchise and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (all created by Dick Wolf), [30] and the ABC dramas Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 (both created by Shonda Rhimes). [31]
Counterprogramming is the practice of deliberately scheduling programming to attract viewers away from another, major program. Counterprogramming efforts often involve scheduling a contrasting program of a different genre or demographic, targeting viewers who may not be interested in the major program (such as a sporting event, which typically draws a predominantly-male audience, against an awards show that attracts a predominantly-female audience). [32] [33] Despite frequently being among the top U.S. television broadcasts of all time, the Super Bowl has had a prominent history of being counterprogrammed in this manner. One of the most prominent examples of this practice was Fox's 1992 airing of a special live episode of In Living Color against the game's halftime show. [34] [35]
Programs can also be counterprogrammed by a direct competitor in the same time slot, often resulting in the two programs attempting to attract viewers away from each other through publicity stunts and other tactics; these tactics have most notably been seen in counterprogramming efforts surrounding professional wrestling, including the Monday and Wednesday Night Wars of the 1990s and 2020s respectively. [36] [37] [38]
In some cases, broadcasters may attempt to adjust their schedules in order to avert attempts at counterprogramming, such as getting a slightly earlier time slot (in the hope that once viewers have become committed to a show they will not switch channels), [39] [40] scheduling the competing program on a different night, or moving it to a different portion of the television season to avoid competition altogether. [39] [40]
Dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different type program is appropriate for that time is aired. Daytime television shows are most often geared toward a particular demographic, and what the target audience typically engages in at that time.
Stripping is the practice of running a single series in a consistent, daily time slot throughout the week, usually on weekdays. Daytime programs such as talk shows, court shows, game shows, and soap operas, are typically aired in a strip format. Outside of serial drama formats such as telenovelas where popular, strips are rarely used for first-run entertainment programming outside of limited events.
Syndicated reruns of network programs that originally aired on a weekly basis are often aired as strips. Shows that are syndicated in this way generally have to have run for several seasons (the rule of thumb is usually 100 episodes) in order to have enough episodes to run without significant repeats.
A marathon is the scheduling of a continuous, long-term block of programming as an event, usually devoted to airings of a single program or film franchise. When conducted using television series, a marathon may either consist of episodes aired in sequential order, or focus on episodes sharing specific themes.
Marathons are often aired on holidays (such as Syfy's annual The Twilight Zone marathon on New Year's Day), [41] as counterprogramming for major events airing on other channels (such as the Super Bowl in the U.S.), [42] to lead into new episodes of a series, or to commemorate milestones/events surrounding a specific series or franchise (such as an anniversary, or the network's acquisition of rights to broadcast a certain property). [43] [44] [45] Some marathons may focus on the roles of a specific entertainer; the death of Betty White resulted in several networks scheduling marathons of programming on or around January 17, 2022—which would have been White's 100th birthday—featuring her television appearances, such as Hallmark Channel airing a marathon of The Golden Girls , and both Buzzr and Game Show Network airing marathons of game shows that featured White as a celebrity guest. [43]
While longer marathons are typically reserved for major events, the popularization of binge-watching via streaming services in the 2010s led to many U.S. cable networks adopting marathon-like blocks of programs as their regular schedule. [46] [47] To compete with the release practices of streaming services, TBS premiered entire seasons of its police sitcom Angie Tribeca in a marathon format. [48] [49] Similarly, free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services often feature narrowly-focused linear channels devoted to specific programs or franchises. [50]
A broadcaster may temporarily dedicate all or parts of its schedule over a period of time to a specific theme. A well-known instance of a themed lineup is Discovery Channel's annual "Shark Week". [51] Themed schedules are a common practice around major holidays—such as Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Christmas—where channels may air episodes of programs, specials, and films that relate to the holiday. Channels may also air marathons of their signature programs and film rights to target viewers who are on vacation.
The U.S. basic cable networks Freeform (25 Days of Christmas, 31 Days of Halloween) and Hallmark Channel are known for broadcasting long-term holiday programming events. After experiencing success with its Countdown to Christmas event, Hallmark Channel adopted a practice of dividing its programming into similarly-branded "seasons" year-round, which are accompanied by thematically appropriate original series and television films. This strategy was part of an effort to position the channel as "a year-round destination for celebrations", and is synergistic with Hallmark Cards' core greeting card and collectibles businesses. [52] [53] [54] [55]
A show's time slot or place in the schedule could be crucial to its success or failure; generally, earlier prime time slots have a stronger appeal towards family viewing and younger demographics, while later time slots generally appeal more towards older demographics. Some time slots, colloquially known as "graveyard slots" or "death slots", are prone to having smaller potential audiences (with one such example in the U.S. being Friday nights), [56] or insurmountable competition from highly rated series. [57] [58]
Late Night with David Letterman is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the Late Night. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February 1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Late Show with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the Late Show franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, and CBS Television Studios. The show's music director and leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, was Paul Shaffer. The head writer was Matt Roberts and the announcer was originally Bill Wendell, then Alan Kalter. In most U.S. markets the show aired from 11:35 p.m. to 12:37 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, and recorded Monday to Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m., and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The second Thursday episode usually aired on Friday of that week.
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien (2009–2010), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Besides the main hosts, a number of regular "guest hosts" have been used, notably Ernie Kovacs, who hosted two nights per week during 1956–1957, and a number of guests used by Carson, who curtailed his own hosting duties back to three nights per week by the 1980s. Among Carson's regular guest hosts were Joey Bishop, McLean Stevenson, David Letterman, David Brenner, Joan Rivers, and Jay Leno, although the practice has been mostly abandoned since hosts currently prefer reruns to showcasing potential rivals.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the second installment of the Late Night. Hosted by Conan O'Brien, it aired from September 13, 1993 to February 20, 2009, replacing Late Night with David Letterman and was replaced by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am Eastern/11:37 pm Central and 12:37 am Mountain in the United States. From 1993 until 2000, Andy Richter served as O'Brien's sidekick; following his departure, O'Brien was the show's sole featured performer. The show's house musical act was The Max Weinberg 7 and led by E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of The Tonight Show. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, replacing The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and was replaced by The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The show returned from March 1, 2010 to February 6, 2014, replacing The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and was replaced by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Nick at Nite is an American nighttime programming block on the basic cable channel Nickelodeon. The programming broadcasts from prime time to late night. The block initially consisted of syndicated sitcoms and films from the 1950s to the 1970s. Nick at Nite gradually shifted its programming to primarily airing sitcoms as recent as the mid-1990s to the 2010s.
In broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the broadcast day into several parts, in which a different type of radio programming or television show appropriate for that time period is aired. Television programs are most often geared toward a particular demography, and what the target audience typically engages in at that time.
Late night television is the general term for television programs produced for broadcast during the late evening and overnight hours—most commonly shown after, if not in competition with, local late-evening newscasts; programs that have been showcased in the daypart historically encompassed a particular genre of programming that falls somewhere between a variety show and a talk show. Late-night shows predominantly cater to night owls, people suffering from insomnia, shift workers with irregular schedule assignments, younger male audiences and college students, along with spillover audiences through viewers of entertainment and news programs aired earlier in the evening.
Hammocking is a technique used in broadcast programming whereby an unpopular television program is scheduled between two popular ones in the hope that viewers will watch it, using the analogy of a hammock hanging between two strong and established trees. Also related is the concept of tent-pole programming, or using popular, well-established television shows scheduled in pivotal time periods to boost the ratings of the shows around them. Used especially for new shows, hammocking is limited to prime time, where "appointment television" is strong.
The CBS Late Movie is a CBS television series that aired during the 1970s and 1980s. The program ran in most American television markets from 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT) until 2:30 a.m. or later, on weeknights. A single announcer voiced the introduction and commercial bumpers for each program, but there was no host per se, or closing credits besides those of the night's presentation.
In broadcast programming, counterprogramming is the practice of offering television programs to attract an audience from another television station or cable channel airing a major event. It is also referred when programmers offer something different from the rival's program as an alternative to increase the audience size.
A graveyard slot is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually situated in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep.
The Jay Leno Show is an American prime time talk show hosted by Jay Leno that was broadcast by NBC from September 14, 2009 to February 9, 2010. The series was a spiritual successor to his previous late-night talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and used a similar format consisting of a comedic monologue, followed by celebrity interviews and other comedy segments.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon was an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of the Late Night franchise. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon, it aired from March 2, 2009 to February 7, 2014, replacing Late Night with Conan O'Brien and was in turn replaced by Late Night with Seth Meyers. The show aired weeknights at 12:35 am Eastern/11:35 pm Central, on NBC.
Although the Super Bowl is consistently one of the most watched television programs in the United States annually, broadcasters have sometimes attempted to intentionally counterprogram against it by running new programming against the game as an alternative, such as special episodes of existing series, one-off special presentations, and previews of new series, typically during its halftime break.
A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show, originating in the United States. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It is characterized by spontaneous conversation, and for an effect of immediacy and intimacy as if the host were speaking directly to each member of the watching audience. Late-night talk shows are also fundamentally shaped by the personality of the host.
The 2010 Tonight Show conflict was a media and public relations conflict involving the American television network NBC and two of its late-night talk show hosts, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, over the timeslot and hosting duties of the long-running franchise The Tonight Show.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incarnation of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise, with Fallon serving as the sixth host. The show also stars sidekick and announcer Steve Higgins and house band The Roots. The Tonight Show is produced by Katie Hockmeyer and executive-produced by Lorne Michaels. It streams the following day on Peacock. The show records from Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center, New York City, which is the same studio in which Tonight Starring Jack Paar and then The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson were produced from 1957 until 1972.
The Late Show is an American late-night talk show franchise on CBS. It first aired in August 1993 with host David Letterman, who previously hosted Late Night with David Letterman on NBC from 1982 to 1993. Letterman's iteration of the program ran until his retirement on May 20, 2015. Comedian Stephen Colbert, best known for his roles on Comedy Central programs The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, assumed hosting duties that September. The show originates from the Ed Sullivan Theater in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York, and airs live to tape in most U.S. markets at 11:35 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, 10:35 in the Central and Mountain time zones.