TV scheduling, especially genre

Understanding TV Scheduling

TV scheduling is the process of arranging, organising, and planning broadcast programming.
It’s crucial as it maximises the potential audience for a programme, which in turn maximises potential advertising revenue.
Since audiences have specific viewing habits, schedules are aligned with audience demographics.
Primary television scheduling strategies include stripping, marathoning, counterprogramming, hammocking, tent-pole programming, and block programming.
These scheduling strategies aim to engage audiences, build viewer habits, promote new shows, and counter-schedule against competitors.

Role of Genre in TV Scheduling

Each genre has its typical core audience, influencing the scheduling time.
Genre identification assists viewers in selecting what they wish to watch and aids broadcasters in targeting specific audiences.
Production companies and writers often create to fit genre conventions, which moulds the nature of the programme and can influence its scheduling.
Genres predominantly determine the categorisation of programmes within schedules, for instance, prime time, daytime, and late-night slots.
Understanding the impact of genre on audience expectation and scheduling is crucial to the creation and marketing of television programmes.

Key Genres in TV Scheduling

##Drama

Drama programmes, such as soaps and series, generally have designated time slots and predefined broadcast days.
High-budget, prime-time dramas often air during ‘peak viewing times’ to maximise viewership.

##News

News broadcasts typically have fixed slot times in the morning, noon, early evening and late evening.
Regular news slots often carve out the times that other programmes seek to avoid.

##Comedy

Comedy shows often broadcast during prime time or just before to act as a ‘lead-in’ for more serious prime time programming.
Sitcom revivals or reruns are typically scheduled in non-peak times due to their appeal to general audiences.

##Reality

Reality shows, including competition format reality shows, are often broadcasted in prime time slots to attract large audience numbers.
Reality TV marathons are frequently used on weekends to keep viewers engaged for longer periods of time.

Scheduling Difference by Platform

Broadcast television scheduling tends to follow a stricter model due to time constraints, advertising needs, and competition with other broadcast networks.
Streaming platforms are less reliant on stringent scheduling due to the nature of on-demand viewing, allowing audiences to watch at their convenience.
However, despite the difference, genre still significantly influences the promotion and categorisation of programs on both platforms.

By knowing the principles of TV scheduling and understanding the role of genre in shaping these schedules, you can better predict audience behaviour and programming strategies used by networks and platforms. This understanding is critical to analyse TV media within broader social, cultural and economic contexts.