Finally, more programming for men on TV
A new Canadian rating system has confirmed the obvious: men are not closet aficionados of women’s specialty channels. Hardly surprising, but until now there was no proof that men weren’t getting their kicks from watching celebrity look-alike make-overs and profanity-free versions of Sex and the City, from which Samantha has been all but eliminated.
The Globe reports that this news has repercussions for Toronto media company Corus Entertainment Inc., the owner of female-centric channels W Network, Viva and Cosmo TV. The new system, which uses a Personal People Meter (not to be confused with the Purple People Eater) to track who’s watching which show and whether they watch it in its entirety, is forcing Corus to admit to advertisers that there’s only one gender watching How to Look Good Naked and Anna and Kristina’s Beauty Call.
“Quite frankly, men just weren’t willing to sit through that and watch with their wives,” said president and CEO John Cassaday. “Whereas in the case of other lifestyle genres, such as home improvement, there was a greater willingness to do that.” So it’s make-over time for the networks, with more male-friendly (and thus advertiser-friendly) programming. But as Mondoville writes, the W Network (née Women’s Television Network) was originally conceived as a “cable channel powered by female voices,” which is kind of like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.
• How to Look Good Naked? Men Wouldn’t Know [Globe and Mail]
• The year the men left the Women’s Television Network [Mondoville]
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A new Canadian rating system has confirmed the obvious: men are not closet aficionados of women’s specialty channels. Hardly surprising, but until now there was no proof that men weren’t getting their kicks from watching celebrity look-alike make-overs and profanity-free versions of Sex and the City, from which Samantha has been all but eliminated.
The Globe reports that this news has repercussions for Toronto media company Corus Entertainment Inc., the owner of female-centric channels W Network, Viva and Cosmo TV. The new system, which uses a Personal People Meter (not to be confused with the Purple People Eater) to track who's watching which show and whether they watch it in its entirety, is forcing Corus to admit to advertisers that there's only one gender watching How to Look Good Naked and Anna and Kristina’s Beauty Call.
"Quite frankly, men just weren’t willing to sit through that and watch with their wives," said president and CEO John Cassaday. "Whereas in the case of other lifestyle genres, such as home improvement, there was a greater willingness to do that." So it's make-over time for the networks, with more male-friendly (and thus advertiser-friendly) programming. But as Mondoville writes, the W Network (née Women's Television Network) was originally conceived as a "cable channel powered by female voices," which is kind of like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.
• How to Look Good Naked? Men Wouldn’t Know [Globe and Mail]
• The year the men left the Women’s Television Network [Mondoville]
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