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CableFAX DailyTMWhat the Industry Reads First Volume 23 / No. SPECIALMonday December 3, 2012

Its Our MostWonderful Time

of the Year!

Hallmark Channel is #1 in ALL of Cable

#1 cable movie among W25-54 rating for 4 straight Saturdays

#1 Saturday telecast of the day among HH rating and W25-54 rating

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live+SD W25-54 coverage area program average ratings for all ad-supported

cable movies per week (11/3/12, 11/10/12, 11/17/12, 11/24/12). Live+SD HH and W25-54 coverage area

program average ratings for all ad-suppor ted cable telecasts of day (11/24/ 12). Subject to

qualifications made available upon request.

ADVERTISEMENT

Holiday Special Report


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CableFAX DailyTMWhat the Industry Reads First


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CableFAX DailyTMWhat the Industry Reads First Volume 23 / No. SPECIAL


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Monday December 3, 2012

Holly Jolly: Nets Say Tis the Season for Holiday ProgrammingYou may still be working through the last o those Thanksgiving letovers, but some programmers have holiday cheertop o mind, with the season oering big opportunities or ratings and ad dollars. Take ABC Familys 25 Days oChristmas, now in its 15th year. The nearly month-long programming stunt has grown so popular that the net launchedCountdown to 25 Days o Christmas in 2007. Similarly, Hallmark Channel has had so much success with its Count-down to Christmas oering, its up to 1100 hours o holiday programming, including 12 new Christmas movies.

We generate over 100mln people as part o 25 Days o Christmas programming, said ABCFamily pres Michael Riley. Its a great opportunity to bring together new and traditional program-ming. New programming this year includes the nets 1st musical, The Mistle-Tones, about dueling

Christmas carolers, starring Tori Spelling and Tia Mowry(Dec 9, 8pm).Also new this year are interstitials with Bunheads star Sutton Fosterintroducing original holi-day programming. The spot highlights how networks can get a bang rom December program-ming all year long. These short pieces not only highlight our content, but also introduce SuttonFoster to a much broader audience, and the hope is that carries on to Jan when Bunheads,our original drama rom the summer, relaunches, Riley said. Its such a great opportunity roma marketing standpoint to introduce all o the rest o our programming or the year. We use 25Days o Christmas, our biggest and broadest stunt, to then kick o our original content in Jan.

At Hallmark Channels, the holidays are in their DNA. Arguably our brand or 100 years hasbeen about helping people connect and celebrate, we have just such tremendous latitude

and credibility with our audience this time o year. We believe were becoming a big tradition in peoples lives, said

Crown Media Family Nets pres/CEO Bill Abbott.Along those lines, networks report that holiday programming oten is appointment viewing, pulling in strong livenumbers as amilies gather together to watch. Our original movies seem to have a pretty good live plus same day orlive plus 3 element to them, Abbott said. The remainder o our content is consumed pretty much live, and thats oneo the great advantages advertisers have when they buy time on our network.

While standards like Frosty and Rudolph are beloved by many, there really is room or new classics. Hallmark dida poll on which o its movie viewers were most excited to see this year. The winner? 2006 original The ChristmasCard. On the original movie ront, Hallmark Channels new ick Naughty or Nice scored a 2.6 HH rating Nov 24and 4.8mln unduplicated viewers, ranking as the nets #1 original movie o the year among women 25-54, adults25-54 and was the 2nd highest-telecast o the year among HHs and total viewers.

12 New Movies of Christmas5 Original Specials

1,100+ Hours of ProgrammingThe

LeaderIN HOLIDAY

PROGRAMMING

Hallmark Channels

Matchmaker Santa


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Monday, December 3, 2012 Page 2CableFAXDailyTMCABLEFAX DAILY (ISSN 1069-6644) is published daily by Access Intelligence, LLC M www.cablefaxdaily.com M fax:301.738.8453 MEditor-in-Chief: Amy Maclean, 301.354.1760, [email protected] M Exec Editor: Michael Grebb, 323.380.6263,[email protected] M Editor: Joyce Wang, 301.354.1828, [email protected] MCommunity Editor: Kaylee Hultgren,212.621.4200, [email protected] MAdvisor: Seth Arenstein MGroup Publisher, Media Entertainment: Denise OConnor MAssoc Publisher: Amy Abbey, 301.354.1629, [email protected] MSales Mgr, Susan, Kim, 301.354.2010, [email protected] MMarketing Dir: Laurie Hofmann, 301.354.1796, [email protected] MProd:Joann Fato, [email protected] M Diane Schwartz,SVP Media Comms Group MSubs/Client Svcs: 301.354.2101 M Group Subs: Amy Russell, 301.354.1599, [email protected]

l i

37.8million

unduplicated viewers

Source: Nielsen NPower Reach & Frequency Report (HALL holiday programming: 11/3-11/5/12 Fri 8p-Sun 3a, 11/9-11/11/12 Fri 8p-Sun 6a, 11/12-11/25/12 M-Su 6a- 6a),

unduplicate d viewers (P2+) based on 6 minute cume qualifier. Subject to qualifications made available upon request.

Our HolidayProgrammingContinues to

Out-Deliver theCompetition

For some nets, the holiday connection is a little less apparent, but they are still maxing out on the benefts o theseason. Arts network Ovation ound its niche with Battle o the Nutcrackers. Now in its 6th year, the programming

stunt has viewers vote or their avorite interpretation o the production with the winner revealed Christmas Eve. Allo our constituents are more involved, said Ovation svp, marketing Gaynor Strachan-Chun. Comcast is eaturingus in their top picks. Ailiates are beginning to really get behind this and promote it. Its un and a little bit dierent,

The multiplatorm elements have worked especially well or Ovation, with VOD sneak peeks o the Nutcrackers,along with lots o online and social media elements. New this year is adding the Viggle and GetGlue apps (watchTV and get rewards) to the mix as well as expanded Facebook promotions. Ovations Facebook page eatures origi-nal animated videos with Nutcracker battle scenarios in various themes (wild west, ninja, sci-f). This year will alsoeature a 3D VOD oering o the Mariinsky 2012 Nutcracker.

Sweepstakes are popular marketing tools this time o year, as well. Hallmark is bringing back its Santa-Riicsweeps or a 2nd year, giving consumers a chance to win an all-expense paid trip or 4 to the North Pole. Thecontest includes an interactive scavenger hunt game that lets users ollow Santa daily as Hallmark counts down to

Christmas. Ten days in, the sweeps had already received 162K entries, 76K game plays and 90K views o bonuscontent (behind the scenes ootage, promos, and so orth).

Another net ull o holiday spirit is GMC, which bills itsel as Americas Christmas Channel. High-lights include the premiere o original movie Christmas Angel and documentary A Very SpecialChristmas: 25 Years o Bringing Joy to the World, which eatures Jon Bon Jovi, U2, Run-DMCand more as the doc eatures new perormances and musical highlights rom the past 25 years.For our audience, its a natural. Christmas, Easter and maybe to a little bit lesser extent Thanks-giving all go together or our audience in a way that really celebrates the time o the season, butalso their values, said ounder and CEO Charley Humbard. While GMC has a large aith-basedaudience, programs like The Waltons Christmas special, which hadnt been on TV in 20 years,delivered nice ratings or the net Thanksgiving night.

What about devoting hundreds o hours o programming to Christmas, a holiday not everyonecelebrates? Riley said its not really been an issue, and having spent 15 years developing the25 Days brand, the nets not looking to change it. Were very proud o being very inclusiverom a programming standpoint, he said. Similarly, Abbott dismissed concerns about overloading people with toomuch holiday programming, even with the net starting its 12 New Movies o Christmas in early Nov. You alwayswill have some viewers who miss what we do the other 10 months o the year, but it gives us the chance to rest our

GMCs A Very

Special Christmas


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Monday, December 3, 2012 Page 3CableFAXDailyTMcontent and do something a little bit dierent, he said. The number o viewers who are attracted is obviously signif-cantly higher, and while were sensitive to the Grinches that are out there at the end o the day, consumers havevoted overwhelmingly; they love this content.

MVPDs Holiday Spirit: A variety o holiday promotions are underway at MVPDs, both internally with employees andexternally involving subs. Charter wants to deck your home with holideals. The MSOs holiday promo eatures triple playoerings starting at $29.99. For $20 more per month or 12 months when bundled, subs get Silver Triple Play, whichincludes 175+ channels (including 80+ HD channels and 10K on-demand choices), Internet services with speeds up

to 30 Mbps and unlimited local and long distance calling. For $40 more per month or 12 months when bundled, subsget 200+ channels plus Internet and unlimited calling. Meanwhile, Charter is eaturing US Soldier Holiday Greetings incertain markets, providing subs with a video montage o holiday greetings rom US military personnel stationed overseasduring the holidays via VOD. The op is also collecting DVDs and CDs in certain markets, to entertain troops overseas.Comcast is making holiday online shopping saer by adding DNS Lock to its Constant Guard Protection Suite to helpprevent Xfnity Internet subs rom connecting to raudulent websites. The new eature was in response to new and emerg-ing malware that can alter DNS settings on a consumers computer without their knowledge. Here are some o Comcaststips or holiday shopping: Dont use your debit card, dont think ree shipping is out o the question and dont add a git toyour shopping cart on a whim. And did we mention the Comcast holiday spectacle? Returning or its 5th year and shownon the Comcast Experience Video Wall at the Comcast Center in Philly, the Holiday Spectacular is flled with sights andsounds o the season. The show, which runs rom 10am to 8pm through New Years Day, lasts about 15 mins. Cox is do-

ing a nationwide marketing campaign called Days o Giving to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of America this holidayseason. Subs can stop by any o the 133 Cox stores to donate toys. Each sub who donates receives a plush holiday CoxDigeez doll. The campaign runs through Dec 25. Additionally, Cox is doing cross-channel TV advertising, social mediaadvertising, email marketing and in-store marketing collateral to build awareness. As or the telcos, you might fnd Santaguest starring in some o their campaigns. AT&T is allowing its U-Verse TV subs to track Santa on his route across theglobe with its Santa Tracker on U-Verse Channel 98. Subs can also enjoy the crackling glow o fre, even i they dont havea freplace, with the Yule Log on U-Verse Channel 400/1400 starting Dec 15. The Yule Log will be returning to severalMVPDs lineup this year, including Time Warner Cable, which is oering it in 3D this year. AT&T is also oering subs aree preview o the U450 package, which includes premium channels. Select Starz, Encore, and Showtime content willbe available via UVerse.com and the U-Verse app or tablets and phones. Verizon started its Direct Line to Santa promoThe experience starts with subs entering their addresses online. With images rom Google Street view, the sub sees animage o their house. A fber line appears (literally), building momentum as it heads north. As the video zooms out, subs

see in the satellite view that the line is going straight to the North Pole. As the connection is complete, subs start theirvideo chat with Santa, asking or git requests or North Pole updates. Throughout the call, Santa will point out benefts oFiOS and encourage subs to enter their addresses again to see i they are eligible or the service.

On the Ad Front: Advertising demand or the holiday season has been strongparticularly in kids TV, where cable netshave 98% o the ratings points, according to Sean Cunningham, pres/CEO o the Cable Advertising Bureau. So natu-rally CAB is bullish on ad spend. In the adult 18+ TV marketplace, where retail has long been one o the top-5 ad spendcategories or the cable networks, we are on pace or a record-high year or retail, possibly eclipsing the 2 billion dollarmark in retail ad spend in national cable or 2013, he told CableFAX. But that doesnt mean there havent been some sotspots, particularly rom the election. According toAmy DeHaen, svp, managing dir o national broadcast at KSL Media,the national scatter market did pick up right ater the election, as expected, but the market isnt exactly a renzy... Thescatter was consistent, but there was a very slow movement, most likely because o the election, she said. A week ater

Obama won re-election, more spending came in, she said. However, the networks arent highly sold out. Most networksdefnitely still have some avails here and there through the rest o the quarter, November being the tightest month, asusual, she said. Typically, the last week o Q4 isnt ideal or holiday advertisers, given that the holiday season is alreadyupon them. Thats the case this year as well, DeHaen said, with December still looking pretty open. In terms o categories,wireless (both hardware and sotware) and retail are the most active. And while retail has to advertise during the holidayseason, some advertisers, like Target, are trying to break through the clutter. For instance, the company bought all thecommercial time or ABCs Revenge and showcased special copy to discuss its various product lines. Though not a newstrategy by any means, over the past ew years retailers have used integrations and product placements to stand out romcompetitors. The client really wants to have control and get their message across without having to really work througha ton o dierent standards and practices, said DeHaen, without disrupting the shows narrative or having to work withproducers. That allows clients a set time above and beyond a 30 or a 60 that can actually showcase what you want to. So

i you have the unds to do it, it kind o provides the client with a little more control and a little bit more ease to execute.

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