GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Why, Universal, Why?

POSTED BY: ECGORDON
UPDATED: Sunday, January 8, 2006 19:36
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Sunday, January 8, 2006 6:23 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.


I searched but couldn't find any mention of this the last couple of days, but if I am wrong I would appreciate someone correcting me.

First off I would like to say that I have always tried to remain optimistic about the future of the Firefly 'verse, and continue to sing its praises whenever and wherever I can. However, now I am wondering if Universal has begun to put this experience behind them.

Even though I have watched my Firefly dvds upwards of 20 times so far, and 11 times so far for the BDM, I still taped the Firefly marathon on SFC this past Friday. I did not watch the episodes but rather taped to check how many times they advertised the dvd release of Serenity, and I just got through fast forwarding through the tapes.

Zilch.

Nada.

Nyet.

Not one time during the entire twelve hour marathon did they advertise the movie, and yet with almost every commercial break we were bombarded with the same promos for Galactica, the Stargates, and one of their crappy "original" movies, Caved In. Not only that, there were ads for three theatrical features (Grandma's House, Hostel, and Underworld: Evolution), neither of which is a Universal film.

As everyone should know, SFC is owned by NBC/Universal, also owner of Universal Pictures, the production company for the BDM. When they first started running Firefly they promoted the upcoming movie quite a bit, not only during the airings of the series but also with other series, and on other networks as well.

So why no advertising for the Serenity dvd during the most obvious time they should have been running it?






wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 6:40 AM

BLINKER


Quote:

Not one time during the entire twelve hour marathon did they advertise the movie, and yet with almost every commercial break we were bombarded with the same promos for Galactica, the Stargates, and one of their crappy "original" movies, Caved In. Not only that, there were ads for three theatrical features (Grandma's House, Hostel, and Underworld: Evolution), neither of which is a Universal film.


O, zhe zhen shi ge kuaile de jinzhan...

_________
Sliders: Gate Haven - http://slidersweb.net/blinker

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 8:38 AM

CHINDI


Further evidence that in Hollywood.. nobody knows nothing (wm Goldman)... what a missed opportunity... and yet.. we all know.. see the show, and you go out looking on the web for all things firefly... so... they'll be hunting down serenity by and by.

Chindi

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 9:47 AM

MATTIE


Now, now, don't get your panties all in a twist. There's no good explanation as to why they didn't advertise our BDM, but at the same time, Chindi is right. If people saw it, they'll search it, and if they search it, they'll find the movie. Besides, this movie has tons of support and plenty of legs holding it up (how many Browncoats are there now?). Every day more and more people join our ranks. Let's be optimistic, hey.

Wacky fun!

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 10:34 AM

ANONYMOUS1


On Friday, I only taped the Firefly episode before the Stargate SG-1.

Visa sponsored that Firefly episode and also Stargate SG-1

Do you know if Visa sponsored all the Firefly episodes shown in the Firefly Marathon on Friday 1/6/2006?

Did you notice that one of the metaphors in the Visa commercial says Hi there to the guy's date? I thought that was pretty funny.

I went to the website for the commercial just to show that someone saw that Visa commercial.

http://knowthemetaphors.com

Also Samuel Adams had a commercial advertising their 18 versions during the Jubal Early Firefly episode.
If you want to vote for your favorite version of Samuel Adams you can at

http://SamuelAdams.com


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Sunday, January 8, 2006 11:31 AM

ROCKETJOCK


Look on the bright side; Sci-Fi obviously considers Firefly to be a sufficient draw in its own right to run a marathon without needing the extra incentive of making it into a adfest for Serenity. Must be doing good in the ratings...

Although I admit, it seems a little silly to overlook such an obvious tie-in. Ah well.

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 11:57 AM

ACESANDEIGHTS


Apparently it wasnt enough of a sufficent draw, because its not being aired anymore.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=16297

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 12:02 PM

TALLGRRL


The reason for no ads is for the same reason you're not seeing advertising for Batman Begins or other DVDs that dropped the same time as Serenity.
Once a DVD has dropped (been released), you'll only see ads for it for about a week.
Just because Firefly is on doesn't mean that you'll see ads for the Serenity DVD.
Please realise this: Serenity was a small budget feature. Small budget.
It costs $$($$$$) to advertise. Even though Sci-Fi channel is owned by Universal/NBC, ad time still has to be purchased.
The ad cycle is over.
And before y'all start winjing about why no ads, do some research and find out how much a :30 ad costs during the time period that you think you should be seeing ads.
Ya just might be surprised.



"Take me, sir. Take me hard." - Zoe

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 3:13 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC


Quote:

Originally posted by RocketJock:
Look on the bright side; Sci-Fi obviously considers Firefly to be a sufficient draw in its own right to run a marathon without needing the extra incentive of making it into a adfest for Serenity. Must be doing good in the ratings...


Actually sci-fi will run a marathon of almost anything. If they play a show there will be a marathon. It's one of those rules of life.

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 3:49 PM

SERGEANTX


I can't speak to the particulars of the situation you describe, but in general network executives have proven they have no clue how to market something like Firefly. To them, this translates to the conclusion that Firefly isn't very marketable and therefore not worth the effort. I think it's just part of their system that's broken.

There are two factors that make Firefly a problem for the typical marketing schemes.

One, it's unique. They don't have anything to compare it to and most of them don't get it. Without some roadmap to follow, the only thing they seem to be able to do is pretend it's something else, something they do know how to market. Anyone who saw the original ads for the series saw this. The ads made it out to be a whacky bunch of nuts on a spaceship, with a "cosmic hooker" (unfortunately, that's an actual quote). The problem with this is that the people who do tune in aren't getting what they came for and the ad only manages to turn off most of the people who will appreciate what Firefly has to offer.

Also, Firefly appeals to a broad range of fans. Most marketing strategies these days are centered around the idea of defining a narrow target audience and marketing intensely to their (presumed) preferences. Sci-fi is almost almost always tagged as going for the 18-25 yr old male demographic. The thing is, any of us who've been on this board for long know that the age range of Firefly fans is much broader than that. There are also far more female fans than the typical sci-fi show attracts. From what I've seen, networks can't figure out what ties us all together. They clearly don't feel confident in promoting Firefly as a witty family drama with great character development. Their research tells them people don't want to see that. Their research blows.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 4:15 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC


SergeantX, I agree with almost everything you have said, in fact I don't strictly disagree with any of it. I do have a question though,

Quote:

There are also far more female fans than the typical sci-fi show attracts.


How do you know? I mean aren't the ones who say women don't like sci-fi the same ones who think Firefly is only marketable to horny teenage boys who want to see "cosmic hookers"?

In my personal experience, which is nowhere near enough to build a coherent picture, females like individual sci-fi shows, books, or movies as much as men, though they are not as likely to call themselves sci-fi fans. I’m not saying that this is how it always is, I freely admit that it is probably not, but I would like to know exactly where the statistics about females are coming from.

-

Odd little note: Only one of the people I have shown Firefly to did not like it, he was a horny teenage boy who fell into the 18-25 year old sci-fi fan category. (Kind of narrows down what his actual age was doesn’t it?)

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 4:34 PM

ZOID



christhecynic wrote, in part:
Quote:

...Odd little note: Only one of the people I have shown Firefly to did not like it, he was a horny teenage boy who fell into the 18-25 year old sci-fi fan category. (Kind of narrows down what his actual age was doesn’t it?)

Ummm... 18 or 19? Did I get it right?



Clairvoyantly,
-zed

P.S.
3rd-best guess: Pistachios.
_________________________________________________

"I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDBOF'

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 4:35 PM

SERGEANTX


Quote:

Originally posted by christhecynic:
How do you know? I mean aren't the ones who say women don't like sci-fi the same ones who think Firefly is only marketable to horny teenage boys who want to see "cosmic hookers"?

I've never been a part of a fan scene before, so I can't say for sure what the demographics of most scifi shows are. The common wisdom is that they're mostly young males, but common wisdom could be wrong - usually is at some level. I do remember the documentaries on the Firefly dvd's mentioning that Firefly did much better with women than fox expected. But I don't have any numbers to back it up, mostly just the experience of hanging out on the boards. I wonder if anyone has seen any compiled statistics? Not that I generally trust compiled statistics, but it would be interesting.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 7:36 PM

NOSADSEVEN


Quote:

Originally posted by SergeantX:
I can't speak to the particulars of the situation you describe, but in general network executives have proven they have no clue how to market something like Firefly. To them, this translates to the conclusion that Firefly isn't very marketable and therefore not worth the effort. I think it's just part of their system that's broken.

There are two factors that make Firefly a problem for the typical marketing schemes.

One, it's unique. They don't have anything to compare it to and most of them don't get it. Without some roadmap to follow, the only thing they seem to be able to do is pretend it's something else, something they do know how to market. Anyone who saw the original ads for the series saw this. The ads made it out to be a whacky bunch of nuts on a spaceship, with a "cosmic hooker" (unfortunately, that's an actual quote). The problem with this is that the people who do tune in aren't getting what they came for and the ad only manages to turn off most of the people who will appreciate what Firefly has to offer.

Also, Firefly appeals to a broad range of fans. Most marketing strategies these days are centered around the idea of defining a narrow target audience and marketing intensely to their (presumed) preferences. Sci-fi is almost almost always tagged as going for the 18-25 yr old male demographic. The thing is, any of us who've been on this board for long know that the age range of Firefly fans is much broader than that. There are also far more female fans than the typical sci-fi show attracts. From what I've seen, networks can't figure out what ties us all together. They clearly don't feel confident in promoting Firefly as a witty family drama with great character development. Their research tells them people don't want to see that. Their research blows.

Amen to that, SergeantX.

Complicating matters even more, I think the people who enjoy Firefly the most are those predisposed to have already been fed up with Hollywood - people who no longer pay attention to tv or movies anymore. Even if the marketing execs understand the breadth and diversity of the fanbase, they still will (understandably) focus their marketing on the demographic groups that watch tv and go out to the movies routinely across the board. No amount of advertising in the world would have gotten me out to see Serenity if I hadn't already been so invested in Firefly, so I'm not exactly a fruitful target market for that. But DVDs... that's something I do buy and rent, yet they plaster on a cover that would send me running.

I think it was an exceptionally important opportunity that Uni. missed by not advertising the DVD during the marathon, precisely because the marketing can be so tricky. We all know the best way to sell Firefly is to show it, and despite what a previous poster suggested, only a small minority of viewers would actually look up the show on the internet - most people just don't have that kind of time. The DVD needs to be bought by people who are simply interested, not just those of us who are obsessed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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