In case you haven't noticed, Turner's truTV is on a bit of a tear. The network enters the 2017-18 Upfront season with unmatched momentum, real ratings success, and a distinct brand identity centered around creator-driven comedic programming. With year-over-year growth in prime among both adults 18-34 (+5%) and adults 18-49 (+2%), and a median age of 36 that makes it the 8th youngest primetime network in the industry, truTV is bucking trends across the media landscape, and breaking through with a growing portfolio of fan-centric franchises.
Building on that solid position, the network today announced additions to its programming slate, including new seasons of well-established existing series, all-new series launching this year, and select pilots and projects in development. First up,
truTV announced the greenlight of Laff Mobb's Laff Tracks, a new series launching later this year that will provide a refreshing new take on traditional stand-up comedy. This new series joins four others debuting on
truTV over the next year, including At Home with Amy Sedaris from the comedy icon, the comedic anthology series Bobcat Goldthwait's
MISFITS & Monsters, the scripted comedy I'm Sorry from Andrea Savage, and the recently-announced live call-in talk show The Chris Gethard Show.
In addition to these new series,
truTV also announced today new season orders for existing originals Impractical Jokers, The Carbonaro Effect, and Jon Glaser Loves Gear, along with additional episode orders for Hack My Life, Comedy Knockout, and You Can Do Better. These renewals join current series Adam Ruins Everything, which debuts its second season this summer, Those Who Can't, which returns for its third season this fall, and You Can Do Better to round out the network's current slate of original programming debuting new episodes this year.
truTV also has a portfolio of projects currently in development, announcing today four new projects, including two scripted series - the Untitled Liza Treyger Project (wt) and Untitled Austin Martinez Comedy (wt) - as well as End Times Girls Club (wt) from Rose Schlossberg, Paid Off with Michael Torpey (wt), and False Advertising (wt) from The Kloons.
"Three years ago, when we announced our plan to totally reinvent
truTV as a comedy network, people thought we were nuts and it would never work - but at least they were nice about it," said Chris Linn, president of truTV. "Now, when we look at the quality and diversity in our programming slate and the talent we're bringing to our network - not to mention the strong momentum and high engagement we're building among our fans - we are incredibly proud of the work that's been done and how far we've come in a short time. Not only have we completely changed the programming slate, but
truTV has evolved into a distinct brand that appeals not only to a higher level of talent, but also to more premium audiences and advertisers."
truTV underwent an extensive and well-documented rebrand that began in October 2014, and within the past year has solidified its position as the home for unique, creator-driven projects across a variety of scripted and unscripted formats. In late 2016, the network unveiled a new tag line - Funny because it's tru - which cemented its comedic identity and showcased the network's deep portfolio of talent and formats. In addition to consistent ratings growth in both prime and total day among adults 18-34 and adults 18-49, the network is delivering audiences that are younger (median age of 36) and more affluent than at any point in its history. The network's engagement with its fan base is also at an all-time high, delivering more than 3 billion social impressions in 2016, and recording its best month ever with more than 94 million total video views across its social and digital platforms in January 2017 alone.
truTV was also the first network to announce its commitment to more content and in Q4 2016, it drastically reduced its commercial load across its prime premiere schedule. The result was not only a surge in networks across the landscape adopting this new practice, but also a significant increase in recall of advertisers' messages and a meaningful sales lift that increased actual dollars spent by consumers.
truTV remains committed to this initiative and in 2018 will substantially increase its limited-commercial load inventory to 15% across its total prime schedule.
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