How Cyma Zarghami Pulled Nickelodeon Out of the Slime
Cyma Zarghami, president of kids' behemoth Nickelodeon, had a problem even Will Smith couldn't solve. On Sept. 12, 2011, Nick's ratings dropped by 20%, literally overnight. "Even in the worst-case scenario, ratings don't drop that fast,'' Zarghami recalled in an interview with Broadcasting & Cable. In the previous quarter, ratings had scored an all-time high. "We saw no signs of it coming," Zarghami added. "So our first reaction was, it will pass." It didn't. Ratings stayed down the entire fourth quarter of '11, a crucial time for clients looking to reach kids before the holidays. That meant that millions of dollars' worth of ad inventory went toward make-goods for those advertisers. "It was a huge mystery for a while and then yes, it was scary," Zarghami said. "But it was also sort of a huge challenge, and I'm always up for a challenge." Nick had its high-rated Kids Choice Awards, hosted in March 2012 by Will Smith, and a bushel of new episodes of programming ready to roll. "It really wasn't making that much of a difference. We sort of stabilized for a minute and then we said 'OK, let's really figure out what this is,'" she said. More»
NewFronts 2014: Xbox Sets Shows With Seth Green, Sarah Silverman
Xbox Entertainment unveiled its programming slate to advertisers for the first time Monday afternoon. Along with previously announced series such as its Steven Spielberg-produced adaption of its popular game franchise Halo and documentaries Every Street United and Signal to Noise, Xbox is developing more originals with names like Sarah Silverman and Seth Green. Other previously announced series from the studio include Humans, the coproduction with the U.K.'s Channel 4. Xbox also partnered with Superfly to bring Xbox Live users the Bonnaroo music and arts festival in June. More» |
