HISTORY's HERO Enthusiast Block Turns Daytime Into Primetime

quotSo many brands we work with already take pride in connecting themselves with veterans39 initiativesquot says Mike Buccella vice president programming partnerships for AE39s Enthusiast group quotThey39re already creating content telling veterans39 stories and now we can give them a more endemic environment to surround those storiesquotAE39s Enthusiast blocks are built to superserve passionate audiences leveraging the organization39s deep library of content as well as commissioning original programming and short form around a particular theme and providing helpful takeaways There are currently four blocks in the portfolio amp8212 Outdoors Drive HomeMade and Collectibles amp8212 with the new Hero block making it five The blocks are anchored on FYI in primetime on AampampE HomeMade and on History Outdoors Drive and now Hero on weekend morningsThe ideal Enthusiast content entertains or educates amp8212 or best of all does both quotWe spend a lot of time reminding the viewer that this is a place for them We try to offer them experiencesquot Murphy saysquotThe content has to have payoff for the viewerquot Buccella adds quotSomething that improves their lifequotMurphy created these blocks by breaking down the component hours differently Instead of 42 minutes per hour of traditional programming he trimmed the longerform content back to 38 minutes The four minutes or more of quotsavedquot content are instead devoted to shorterform content from bitesize 30second bits to minuteslong branded pieces For the Outdoor block for example Murphy and Buccella partnered with Yeti to premiere a slate of Yeti original films some of which were seven minutes longquotSchedulers will tell you you39re crazy but we39ve built an audience that loves this formatquot Murphy saysWhat will HISTORY39s HERO block look like There will be movies such as Pearl Harbor and series such as Navy SEALs America39s Secret Warriors from History39s library For shortform series Murphy and his team have settled on three original shortform series Coming Home which profiles veterans adjusting to civilian life Family Ties which focuses on the families of military personnel and Heroes at Home which highlights veterans making a difference in their communityquotWe39re filming three families right now for our Family Ties themequot Murphy says quotSome of these families have three generations of veterans and they have a unique perspective that we39re so happy to showcasequotSome of the brands that have signed on to the HERO block will also be telling the stories of employees who served And because these stories will be showcased within an endemic environment they39re all the more likely to have an actual impact on the viewer quotThe cool thing about a lot of this custom content is it39s so native and organic you don39t realize until the end that it39s from a brand and then you go 39How clever is that39quot Buccella saysThe roots of the Enthusiast blocks lie in research Murphy did on underutilized dayparts and timeslots particularly daytime weekend hours that were losing viewers quotWe were essentially ignoring this daypartquot Murphy saysWhat happened when those hours were no longer being ignored and the enthusiast strategy rolled out Viewer engagement jumped 40 percent year over year on the high end HomeMade and on the low end an impressive 26 percent OutdoorsThese blocks are catnip to brands as well and for good reason quotWe were doing a presentation recently for Peter Olsen executive vice president of ad salesquot Murphy says quotAnd he told us 39You39ve created another night of primetime39 aka hours of programming with highly engaged viewershipquotWhat39s different about HERO Buccella adds is that while the HISTORY block is geared toward veterans and military families he and Murphy are already thinking about the other heroes who also deserve tributes and are also already integral parts of the AE Networks family Look no further than AampampE39s LiveRescue which follows first responders oncall and yes is truly live Those first respondertype heroes will be the focus of quotphase twoquot of the HERO blockFor now though Murphy and Buccella are concentrating on the sevenweek initial quotpremierequot of HISTORY39s HERO block quotSupport for the military is in our DNAquot Murphy says quotIt39s something we frequently talk about reflect on and honor here at AEquotClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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HISTORY's HERO Enthusiast Block Turns Daytime Into Primetime

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Oriana Schwindt

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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HISTORY's HERO Enthusiast Block Turns Daytime Into Primetime

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Oriana Schwindt

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