Where have the guys gone?
TV executives have been scratching their heads in recent years as elusive young male viewers have become even scarcer, lured away by online entertainment as well as Xboxes, iPods and other gadgets.
Now Spike TV is hoping to bring some of them back by cultivating a more manly image–call it the cable network for the anti-metrosexual.
“The Rock is Spike,” the network’s president, Doug Herzog, put it more plainly. “Jude Law is not Spike.”
Three years after executives proclaimed it the “first network for men,” Spike has adopted a new slogan, “Get more action,” replaced its bubble-letter logo with hefty block print and scheduled a slew of action-oriented programs. Among them are “The Ultimate Fighter,” a reality competition with 16 martial arts fighters, and the new “Blade: The Series” based on the comic-book hero and big-screen movies with Wesley Snipes, which premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday, just after Spike’s “Ultimate Fight Night.”
They all are part of an effort to sharpen the channel’s identity.
“I think everybody understood the notion that it’s a network for men, but what did that mean?” Herzog said. “We weren’t going to do the pornography network, which was probably the best idea if you’re looking for these viewers. We kind of landed on our notion of what it is: an unapologetic, action-oriented, home base for guys.
“Action means car chases and dust-ups and fistfights and Bruce Willis movies but also means the action of the card table, the action of Vegas and beautiful women,” he said. “If it’s testosterone-driven, bold and unpretentious, we think there’s room for it.”
Spike is not alone in making a pound-on-your-chest appeal to men. Lately, there seems to be a resurgence in macho-themed marketing: Burger King and Miller Lite are among companies that have created for-guys advertising campaigns. Some of these advertisers apparently already view Spike as a good place to find a captive audience of young men; spots for Burger King, Toyota and Coors dominate the network’s commercials.
Still, it remains to be seen if Spike’s pumped-up image will be enough to draw a substantial share of guys back to TV when they have so many other pursuits vying for their attention. In 2000, 18- to 34-year-old males made up just 9.5 percent of the American TV viewing audience; so far this year, their share has dropped to 9 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Keith Richman, chief executive officer of break.com, a user-generated entertainment Web site aimed at young men that attracts around 900,000 users a day, said Spike’s new strategy makes sense.
“There’s no channel that really talks to guys on their level like their guys and says, ‘We know you’re not pretty, but we embrace you,’ ” he said.
“Whether you’ll be able to get the guys off the Internet back to watching TV is another matter. They’re competing with being outdoors and the new gadget that just came out and ‘Nacho Libre’ at the box office and guys’ desire to go out and meet girls.”
Spike executives hope the network’s beefed-up approach will help propel it past its competitors. Key to the network’s rebranding is a new slate of action programs in development, including the “Blade” series.
Spike has been trying to build a buzz for “Blade” through a major online marketing effort that includes trailers posted on Web sites such as youtube.com.
“We have to go where the guys are,” Herzog said.
Another tent pole of the network’s new strategy is its partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the top producer of the increasing popular mixed martial arts fights.
Spike recently renewed its deal with UFC through 2008, and no wonder: The recent third season of “The Ultimate Fighter” drew an average audience of 2.2 million viewers and in its original Thursday night time slot and enjoyed an audience jump of 410 percent among males 18 to 34.
Herzog said he doesn’t want to leave the impression that the network is now only for men interested in bare-knuckle combat or bloody vampire slayings.
“This is a big, wide-open category, and we want to appeal to a lot of different guys,” he said. “It’s not about being the toughest guy–it’s about not being afraid to be a guy.”
Big-screen heroes
The Marvel comic “Blade” has been made into three movies and now is getting a TV treatment. Who is your favorite onscreen superhero?
– Superman – Batman
– Spider-Man – Blade
– Wolverine of the X-Men
Send us your vote to ritaredeye@tribune.com.
