Disney’s “Sofia the First” gets a second season, while ABC’s “Zero Hour” times out

Jim Hill

12 years ago

Television is a very weird business.

How do I know this? Because as I write today's story, I'm
looking at an e-mail that the nice folks at Disney Junior sent me yesterday afternoon.
Giving me a heads-up that "Sofia
the First," their new animated series which is built around Disney's first
little girl princess, just got picked up for a second season.

Mind you, anyone with half a brain in the industry knew that
this renewal was coming. After all, "Sofia
the First" has the sort of ratings that other television executives would
kill for. This animated series is currently the top TV show among Kids 2 – 5,
Girls 2 -5 and Boys 2 -5. Not to mention being the No. 1 preschool cable TV
series in Total Viewers and Women 18 – 49.

But looking past the raw numbers here (Or — more importantly
— the fact that Disney's "Sofia
the First" actually is a well-written, smartly produced show with great
production values), this animated series is a huge success today because The
Walt Disney Company got solidly behind "Sofia."
And it made sure that every division of this corporation was doing everything
that it could to properly support & promote Disney's first little girl
princess.

Take — for example — that "Sofia the First"
illustrated storybook
that Disney Press put out on store shelves on October 30,
2012, almost three weeks ahead of when "Once Upon a Princess
" (i.e.
the original animated TV movie which introduced Sofia to the world) debuted on
Disney Junior. Then — on January 11th
of this year (i.e. the exact same day that the "Sofia
the First" TV show debuted on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior) —
Disney Digital Books launched its "Sofia
the First: Story Theater"
app. Which has since gone on to claim the #1 spot in the iPad and iPhone Books
category for five of the seven weeks that this app has been out in the
marketplace.

Everything that Disney could do to help make the public
aware of "Sofia the First" (EX: Walt Disney Records took the songs
that music director John Kavanaugh wrote for both the "Once Upon a
Princess" TV movie as well as select episodes of "Sofia" 's
first season and then put together a "Sofia the First" soundtrack
.
Which — since its debut on February 12th — has since gone on to No. 1 on
iTunes' Top 10 Children's Albums chart and #2 on the Billboard Kid Albums chart),
Disney did. Which is why this new animated television is now poised for a long
healthy run on both the Disney Channel and Disney Junior.

Now counter this with what just happened with "Zero
Hour," that ABC Studios-produced conspiracy theory drama which just cancelled
after three airings. ABC ran a fairly conventional promotional campaign for
this new hour-long series. In the weeks & months leading up to "Zero Hour" 's February
14th premiere, the alphabet network broadcast all sorts of teasers for this new
one-long drama. It also bought full page ads in lots of major publications
& newspapers. And during the actual week of "Zero Hour" 's
premiere, ABC Studios sent Anthony Edwards out to make promotional appearances
on ABC's "Good Morning America," "LIVE! with Kelly and
Michael" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

And what sort of response did ABC Studios get for its
by-the-book promotional effort for "Zero Hour" ? Its season premiere got
the lowest rating that the alphabet network has ever gotten for a scripted show
during the regular television season. And given that the ratings for Episodes 2
and 3 were even worse than that … Well, that's why "Zero Hour" officially got its clock punched yesterday after
just three airings.

Look, I know. Comparing the performance of a new animated
series on a cable channel aimed at preschooler to that of an hour-long
nighttime drama broadcast on a major network aimed at a far broader audience kind
of redefines apples-to-oranges. But during a time when the hot new trend in broadcasting
would appear to be binge-viewing, does it really make sense for ABC to pull
"Zero Hour" (i.e. an hour-long drama with a gradually unraveling,
conspiracy theory-driven storyline that would seem to be tailor-made for this
new viewing phenomenon) off the schedule after just a handful of showings?

And when you consider that Nielsen (i.e. the company of
record when it comes to measuring television viewership) has recently had to
admit that it has left huge chunks of the modern TV viewing audience
unaccounted for. Which is why — beginning in September — it will begin
counting people who now watch television programs through broadband devices
like game consoles. Not to mention revamping its entire ratings system so that Nielsen
can then takes into account those folks who now watch TV shows on their tablets
& mobile phones … Well, it would just seem that this isn't the time for
ABC to be sticking with the same, old tried-and-true promotional methods when
it comes to launching and then supporting & promoting new television series.

Okay. To be fair here, ABC did make the entire first episode
of "Zero Hour" available for viewing online over at ABC.com in the
week prior to its February 14th premiere on the Alphabet network. More to the
point, it's important to acknowledge that this 8-p.m.-on-Thursday-nights
timeslot has become something of a deathtrap on the ABC schedule. I mean, when
you consider all of the hour-long dramas that preceded "Zero Hour" in
that timeslot (i.e. "Last Resort," "FlashForward,"
"Charlie's Angels," "My Generation" and
"Missing," among others) only to then wind up being cancelled … One
wonders what can be done to fix that hole in ABC's schedule.

Well, I don't know about you folks. But when I see something
like "Sofia the First" so successfully launched and then when I watch
a promising program like "Zero Hero" suddenly crash & burn, I
can't help but think that maybe it's time for the folks at ABC to go to talk
with the people who handle promotion at the Disney Channel & Disney Junior.
Because there's gotta be some aspect of the "Sofia
the First" promotional playbook that would then be useful / adaptable at
the network level, don't you think?

Because given all of the upheaval that's currently going on
in the network television world (i.e. binge-viewing. Nielsen overhauling its
entire ratings system. Not to mention what the recently wrapped February 2013 Sweeps
has to say about America's
rapidly changing viewing habits. Which showed NBC going from being No. 1 back
during the November 2012 Sweeps period to becoming No. 5, falling behind
Univision), this is obviously not a time to stick with tried-and-true.

But what do you folks think? Could the folks at ABC actually
pick up a few worthwhile promotional tips from Disney's first little girl
princess?

Your thoughts?