Sweaters and thick socks, apple picking, and an invasion of pumpkin spice may be among many Americans’ favorite fall traditions. But for some of us, there’s nothing better than settling in front of the TV for the start of the new season’s television slate. It’s the end of summer, and the start of TV’s busiest – and most exciting – season, premiere season!
Ahead of premieres, broadcast networks ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, and NBC began airing promos for 56 programs, including ten new and 46 returning shows. At EDO, we analyzed promos from the five networks July 25 to September 22 to identify the two top performers per network – here’s what we found.
ABC: Abbott Elementary, The Conners
“Abbott Elementary,” which celebrated its second season premiere in September, had fans buzzing this year. “Abbott” is back in session with ABC’s best-performing promo in EDO’s data this fall, outperforming the network’s average promo by a whopping 135%. Amplifying this, in the weeks leading up to its premiere, promos for the show caught the attention of media outlets like Deadline and Entertainment Tonight.
ABC’s second most popular promo belonged to “The Conners,” a stalwart of the ABC comedy lineup for the last five years. The program’s ads exceeded the network’s average promo by 15%. You can catch both The Conners and Abbott Elementary in ABC’s Wednesday night primetime lineup.
CBS: Survivor, FBI
Survivor has returned to CBS for a 43rd season, making it one of the longest-running reality shows in American TV history. The show’s promotions surpassed CBS’ average promo by 124%. Fans of the show took to social media to talk about the promo, featuring Jeff Probst and popular castaways from past seasons who have outwitted, outplayed, outlasted other contestants.
CBS’s second leading performer is crime series “FBI,” which beat the network’s promo average by 17%. FBI, which premiered in 2018, has spawned two successful spin offs on CBS, including FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International.
For anyone who has missed the promos, you can catch Survivor on Wednesday and FBI on Tuesday nights.
The CW: All American, Stargirl
Promotions for LA-based sports drama “All American” outperformed all other fall promos on The CW by 23%. One spot teased several new plot points for the latest season, which debuted on October 10.
“Stargirl” — based on the D.C. comic superhero Courtney Whitmore—also generated strong engagement from TV viewers, outperforming the network’s average promo by 8%. The third season premiered on August 31, with Joel McHale continuing his role as Starman from season 2.
FOX: The Masked Singer, Monarch
“The Masked Singer” continues to surprise and delight viewers after eight seasons (even if we already know The Harp character is definitely Amber Riley). The program’s 2022 promos are exceeding FOX’s average promo by 120%.
Ads for “Monarch” — a new drama series about a country music family, featuring Susan Sarandon — engaged TV viewers, outperforming FOX’s average promo by 27%.
NBC: The Voice, Quantum Leap
Another long-running reality show generated heaps of engagement from TV fans this year. Promos for “The Voice,” now 22 seasons deep, outperformed NBC’s average by 99%. According to EDO data, shows in the comedy and variety genres outperformed promos in other genres by 50%, so The Voice’s promo success comes as no surprise.
“Quantum Leap” was NBC’s second-most popular fall promo, exceeding the network’s average by 43%. Even better for viewers and fans, just this week, NBC announced it would extend the program’s first season by six episodes, making it the first new series of the fall TV season to receive an extension. According to NBC, recent data suggests that Quantum Leap is the highest-rated new show among 18-49 year olds.
Promo measurement made easy
EDO ‘s real-time, syndicated Convergent TV platform ingests thousands of data points at once to uncover how consumers respond to ads – whether for a fall TV promo, or a brand awareness campaign.
Want to learn more? I would love to hear from you. Connect with me on LinkedIn to uncover how your networks’ promos or your brands’ ads are engaging viewers.
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