Do You Think "Hot in Cleveland" Will Struggle in Syndication? Some Say Yes.....

[Brian Damage]

....because the average age of a HIC viewer is in their 50's.



This month, CBS signed on to distribute "Hot in Cleveland," the first scripted hit produced by TV Land channel. (Both are Viacom companies.) The second-season comedy, which stars TV veterans Betty White and Valerie Bertinelli, has been drawing fewer than 2 million viewers an episode, according to Nielsen, the ratings firm — a respectable number for a cable show but much smaller than the audience of most broadcast shows.

"Hot in Cleveland" will be an interesting test for syndication. Because the median age of the "Hot in Cleveland" audience is 53, the show may be less appealing to younger-skewing services such as Hulu and Netflix. Nonetheless, Viacom and CBS executives are betting that the "Hot in Cleveland" cable fan base will grow when it appears on broadcast TV stations.

"This is an underserved part of the audience and we decided to take something of a contrarian approach," said Eddie Dalva, executive vice president for content and program enterprises for Viacom Media Networks. He added that the series has done well in Canada, Australia and other foreign markets. "We see the show as not just a strong cable comedy, but as a strong television comedy," Dalva said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-comedy-syndication-20111231,0,2613458.story

http://www.shewired.com/images/contentimages2010//Freelance/tvlez6.jpg

[catlover79]

I don't think it will. I know a lot of younger viewers who love the show.

[Stuck In The '70's]

The Golden Girls did pretty well in syndication and this show reminds me a lot of that one.

[catlover79]

Definitely.

[Schmoopie]

Wow, I'm surprised that the median age for HIC is over 50. I figured it would be more mixed since the women are such different age ranges. But I think it'll do better in syndication b/c there are a lot of people like myself who can't get HIC b/c we don't have TV Land, but you sure do hear an awful lot about it.

[catlover79]

I don't have cable, either - but I have checked both seasons that are on DVD out of the library and loved them. I can't wait for S3 to come out on DVD!! :cool: :D

[Marvo301]

I think more baby boomers than young people watch syndicated reruns anyway so HIC wiil do just fine!

[andress_jade]

I love this show! I have season one on DVD and I can't wait to get 2 and 3 on DVD as well. I really believe that this show will succeed in syndication. I mean any show with Betty White is a guaranteed winner and when you add Jane Leeves and Valerie Bertinelli to the mix, you just can't lose. I hope this show is on for many years to come. :)

[Leslie Eckhardt]

The show should be a success in syndication provided enough episodes are ultimately produced for viable 5 day a week strip programming. By the end of the third season there will be about 56 eps. This means that each episode will be repeated about once a month. The longer the series runs, the less time between repeats and less time for over-exposure.

[Jude The Obscure]

The show should be a success in syndication provided enough episodes are ultimately produced for viable 5 day a week strip programming. By the end of the third season there will be about 56 eps. This means that each episode will be repeated about once a month. The longer the series runs, the less time between repeats and less time for over-exposure.


Provided stations don't give it the double run treatment that is now standard for most sitcoms entering the broadcast syndication market.

[Nyan]

TV Land is basically syndication to begin with and they run the older episodes of this show into the ground like all of their other content, so what's the point really?