Who Knows What Women Want? Gerry Does…

Cable World,  Feb 21, 2005  

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Oxygen's five-year rollercoaster ride hasn't hurt the network's growth, Laybourne says. "We continue to [double] our advertising base every year," she says. "We went from 8 million [at launch] to 54 million homes, growing at about almost 10 million a year. And the increases in our ratings from 2002 to 2005 are up 374% [in prime time]...and we're in the vicinity of Bravo, E! and VH1. Right now, in the first quarter, we're averaging a 0.4 prime-time rating, which is really respectable."

Oh! You Don't Really Like Sports...

Five years ago Oxygen launched with noisy live shows, edgy animation such as Avenue Amy and Hey Monie, informational shows, documentaries and women's sports. None of those shows clicked with the intended audience and have since been replaced with new programming.

"I remember the first focus group I went to," says Debby Beece, president of programming for Oxygen. "The women there said, 'Oh, I love the idea of this network and all these service shows and women talking about issues, and all these documentaries and sports--oh, I love sports for women--and this is all just so great.' But they really don't watch any of those. I think they were just trying to make us feel good because they could tell we were so earnest and so eager to do something of value and serve women who'd been underserved."

When backers including Paul Allen and Oprah Winfrey reportedly grew frustrated with Oxygen's inability to lure a loyal audience, the net hired "I Want My MTV!" creator Dale Pon in late 2002 to come up with a new tag line and on-air identity. The branding guru's "Oh!" campaign featuring Madonna and other celebrities created buzz for Oxygen's revamped programming lineup, which skews toward comedy--a move reinforced last fall by a study on women and humor that Oxygen commissioned from Roper. Its comic A-team now includes original series Girls Behaving Badly and Good Girls Don't, the British series Absolutely Fabulous and Nighty Night, plus reruns of the single-named TV series Roseanne, Ellen and Cybill. More original comedy series are coming this year, including Mr. Romance (premiering March 14), a reality show send-up starring Fabio and Fred Willard during which men compete to grace the covers of Harlequin romance novels.

A dose of frank-but-funny sex chat is anchored by Talk Sex (starring Canadian granny-turned-David Letterman fave Sue Johanson), Naked Josh and Show Me Yours. Original reality fare includes Snapped, Nice Package and Drastic Plastic Surgery. The Ellen DeGeneres Show and the kick-off-your-heels Oprah After the Show, which Winfrey tapes exclusively for Oxygen, continue to be big hits.

Oxygen also takes women to the movies with an original film per quarter; next up is Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber (March 12) starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. The network also recently acquired a package of films from Warner Bros. that includes titles such as Two Weeks Notice.