September 28, 2004

Emmys Integral to HBO's DVD Marketing Efforts

We all know about the "Oscar" bounce for theatrical titles, but here's some interesting info about how the Emmys help HBO's marketing from Yesterday's Broadcasting & Cable Magazine:

But it's only in the DVD business that HBO execs expect to see any direct correlation between the Emmys and business. While an Oscar may boost the box office for a movie still playing in theaters, HBO executives say Emmy awards have no evident effect on their subscriber sales.

"We do sell ourselves on the quality of our programming," Strauss says, "so anything that burnishes the brand and shines it up you like to have."

The article describes the massive amount of Emmys won by HBO, and then goes on to describe their impact on the DVD market:

The DVD market offers HBO its biggest payoff. HBO Video President Henry McGee loved the exposure of the miniseries' sweeping all four acting categories it was eligible for, sending co-stars Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Mary Louise Parker and Jeffery Wright up to the stage. "Emmys can be very helpful in focusing on a program," says McGee, "particularly for HBO, when we're in approximately 30 million homes, just a fraction of TV homes."

The Sopranos and Sex and the City have moved so many DVDs that the network nearly recouped the entire production costs of early seasons from DVD sales alone. (The bar was raised when actors got raises in the later seasons.)

That was unimaginable when HBO approved and budgeted the series. Including DVDs, syndication and theatrical movies, more than 20% of HBO's revenues is from sources other than subscription TV.

The network has high hopes for Angels DVDs, but HBO won't likely match the success of The Sopranos. "Angels is a $60 million project. You would never expect to recoup that in ancillary markets," McGee says. But, he adds, HBO does hope to attract new viewers as the acclaim for Angels spreads.

HBO is in an enviable position -- they've got the Midas touch right now. Sure, maybe Carnivale wasn't as hot as it could've been and maybe Arliss has been limping along for the last five years, but when you square that with the hits -- that's pretty enviable.

Name one theatrical studio that has the cachet of HBO right now...

Broadcasting & Cable - Angels, Emmys and DVD