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More Dramas Head to Mainstream Networks
Telenovelas hope to inspire the same magic in English with new viewers and advertisers
July 01, 2006
By Kevin Downey
Advertisers in the ongoing upfront market are taking a cautiously optimistic approach with the rash of new English-language telenovelas landing on the small screen this fall.
ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and MyNetworkTV will try to dethrone Univision as the king of nighttime soaps, an occasional prime-time ratings winner in certain markets and demos. English-language novelas hold the promise of attracting a portion of the Hispanic population that understands novelas but also consumes more general-market TV.
While it's likely millions of viewers will test out the new series, advertisers are not embracing the concept, at least not yet.
Some say there's a risk that advertisers could pass on a potential phenomenon, recalling a missed opportunity to buy inexpensive commercials on reality shows before prices took off when CBS' Survivor became an instant hit six years ago. Still, media buyers say advertisers have concerns about the language twist.
"All we can do at this point is guess. If the English-language novelas are as racy and provocative as the Spanish [ones], and I'm not sure they will be, advertisers will be cautious," says Len Sherman, managing director of Zenith Optimedia Multicultural Direct, a full-service multicultural agency. "They will want to make sure there isn't negative feedback [from general-market viewers] for their products and services, so I think there will be a wait-and-see attitude."
Louis Roloff, vice president and director of video investment and activation at Starcom MediaVest Group in New York, says many advertisers also are holding out to see the production quality. "There's a little hesitation," he says. "[It's] not that anyone is ignoring it, but people want to see how it performs."
Outside of ABC's daytime soap opera Port Charles, which changed story lines every 13 weeks, there have been almost no attempts to broadcast English-language telenovelas on U.S. television. For two years, Port Charles incorporated the novela style with some ratings success — until it was canceled in 2003.
Novelas always center on a love story with a mostly humble beginning from one of the leads, a melodramatic middle and a happy ending. They typically air every weeknight for about three to four months on Spanish-language networks. But the genre is defined more by its story arc than its scheduling.
Novelas have propelled Univision into a top-tier network that often attracts more adults 18-34 in prime time than its English-language rivals. Novelas are commonplace in Latin American countries — and through syndication, in other non-Spanish-speaking lands — but it could jar the sometimes prudent mainstream viewership.
TELENOVELAS ON TAP
The upcoming MyNetworkTV's weekday lineup will consist of two novelas, under the monikers Desire and Secret Obsessions, both produced by Twentieth Television, a division of Fox Television. The News Corp. network will debut in the fall with a two-hour telenovela block, with eight total English-language novelas set to air throughout 2006-2007.
ABC has Betty the Ugly, a fairly typical drama co-executive produced by actress Salma Hayek, who coincidentally got her start starring in novelas in Mexico. Betty is based on the hugely popular Colombia-made Betty La Fea, which Telemundo originally rebroadcast for the U.S. market in 2000, and is now a runaway hit in its new incarnation on Univision. ABC also has three other novelas in development.
CBS reportedly is working on five English-language novelas, too.
NBC Universal's USA cable network has two novelas in development, The Hamptons and Secrets of the Spa. And NBC in February signed a production deal with Los Angeles-based Galán Entertainment to produce novelas for the company's various outlets. Nely Galán, now president of her self-named entertainment company, also headed up the entertainment division at Telemundo in 1998.
The first NBC novela expected on prime time next season is Body of Desire, adapted from Telemundo's smash hit El Cuerpo del Deseo. "This format has succeeded around the world, and combined with the explosive growth of the Hispanic population, it's a way to migrate viewers who grew up with the format to a general-market network," notes Shari Anne Brill, vp and director of programming at Carat USA.
Although advertisers are not yet rushing to put commercials on English-language novelas, media buyers say most are aware that the genre has a strong ratings track record. Most media researchers believe the initial audience watching English-language novelas will be young women, notably English-speaking Hispanics, with a smattering of older Spanish-language novela viewers and English-language daytime soap watchers.
For the broadcast and cable networks, English-language novelas make a lot of sense. Until recently, there wasn't quite enough evidence to suggest the genre could work.
LOOKING FOR RATINGS SUCCESS
While ABC's comedy-drama Desperate Housewives is not a novela in terms of scheduling (it airs once a week) or its story lines, it shares an over-the-top style with novelas. MyNetworkTV also will air reruns of Desperate Housewives on Saturdays beginning 2008, where it will fit in with the new programming. Most telling, Desperate is a top-rated show that catapulted ABC out of the ratings basement.
"In our world, a show either has to work in the ratings or it has to work economically," says Galán. "Worst case scenario, this works economically. You're talking about a fourth or a fifth [the cost] of a regular drama series, which gives you more leeway in making a mistake."
Jeff Bader, executive vice president of ABC Entertainment, says low production costs make novelas a viable alternative to reruns. "Everyone is trying to figure out if there is a way to make original programming, particularly for the summer, at a lower cost point per hour that might bring people back night after night for a set period of time," he says. "If someone gets the format to work, it will be a tremendous format to use."
The general-market networks have been suffering from stagnant or declining ratings for more than two decades, mostly due to cable television. But in recent years, Spanish-language TV has added to the migration away from general-market networks.
TV ratings firm Nielsen Media Research earlier this year began measuring Spanish-language networks Univision, Telemundo, and TeleFutura alongside English-language networks. Almost every media buyer and advertiser knew the Spanish-language networks were growing, but the new ratings underscored the enormity of this audience.
The first real test for English-language novelas will come Sept. 5, when Desire: Table for Three airs, followed by Secret Obsession: Fashion House, on MyNetworkTV.
Bob Cesa, evp of ad sales at Twentieth Television, says, "[Advertisers] applaud our strategy and like the idea of 52 weeks of original programming and that we've taken a genre that's been immensely successful around the world and adapted it for American sensibilities." He adds, "I am confident we will be well-supported in the upfront based on conversations with advertisers and agencies."
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