Using the "telenovela" soap-opera that is so popular with Spanish-language TV audiences, News Corp.'s (NWS) My Network TV has had a much slower start than they anticipated.
What's puzzling is that Bob Cook, president of Twentieth Television and one of the chief executives over the network, seems to be fighting what the core audience wants.
Concerning all female focus groups Cook said, "One thing that's different from other networks, we've tried to be immediately responsive. As soon as we get our first footage, we're testing it with 500 women, we could respond if they say there's too much of that and too little of this, we would edit it and change it," Adding that the feedback from women primarily was: "We don't need the graphic scenes, we need the romance."
Cook tries to defend the content by saying that it's not any different from daytime soaps. The problem is that women are saying they are interested in more romance and the media buyers are saying that the content is one of the reasons they're refusing to commit more ad dollars. There have also been some complaints by advocacy groups concerning some issues.
The point is that what are they being stubborn over? Everyone, especially their core audience, are saying they want things different. So give it to them.
This is one of those areas that will trouble the company because the history of Rupert Murdoch and the building of his media empire, has always been concerning using racier content and pictures to draw more eyeballs.
The audience for this type of TV are women. This isn't near as important to them as the romantic aspect the show. With extremely low ratings, they better adjust and adapt to what their audience wants instead of giving excuses for why they should keep on doing it the way they want without regard for their customers.
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