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Les Moonves (Getty Images)
CBS head honcho Les Moonves has seen the future of broadcast television, and it looks a lot like cable.
The No. 1 rated network — long known for embracing older viewers — is looking to borrow a page or two from cable’s newer playbook.
CBS has been making the rounds on Madison Avenue, aggressively pitching ad execs on a development slate of younger, edgier shows that seem more at home on cable.
“They may be the Tiffany network, but they have to renew themselves because the audience is moving,” said Frances Page, vice president and director of entertainment media at R.J. Palmer, who sat through a CBS pitch. “They said they’re not getting caught behind the curve.”
While cable has traditionally drawn a fraction of the broadcast audience, that is changing. Cable channels are increasingly producing breakout hits with broadcast-sized audiences.
What’s more, they are beating the broadcast networks when it comes to viewers ages 18 to 49 — the group advertisers care about most.
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was the top-rated show among younger viewers last week, beating out top-rated CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory.”
“Their nose isn’t in the sand — they know when things start to fade,” said Gary Carr, chief TV buyer at TargetCast. “It’s a constant job and it’s difficult.”
Broadcast networks typically unveil their development slate for the new fall season in March, but CBS moved up its meetings with advertisers to get a jump on the competition.
The meetings are aimed at giving ad execs a taste of what’s to come before the annual “upfronts” in May, when the major broadcast networks sell commercial time for the upcoming season.
This week alone, CBS entertainment boss Nina Tassler, along with CBS’s ad team, flew to New York, Detroit and Chicago to pitch ad agencies.
To beat back cable, CBS execs said they’re also going to program the summer season — typically the slowest time of the year for the broadcast networks — with more robust shows.
Cable has made big audience inroads by launching shows in the summertime, when the major broadcast networks traditionally turn to reruns.
Rather than play reruns, CBS has lined up a series based on Stephen King’s “Under the Dome,” alongside a US take on “The Great British Bake Off.”
CBS has been snagging cable talent, too. The network moved early to lock up deals with producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, behind the Showtime hit “Homeland,” and ordered early pilot commitments on the series “Hostages” as well as “Beverly Hills Cop.”