FXX’s ‘Simpsons’ Marathon Was A Ratings Boom

Remember a year ago when FX spawned FXX, the deformed offspring of a successful subsidiary of 20th Century Fox?

Me either.

Even two weeks ago, your average American Joe (or Joan) probably had little knowledge of the network. But a 552-episode, 12-day Simpsons marathon later, and FXX is now officially on the map (along with Brockway, Odgenville, and North Haverbrook.)

The 24-hour-a-day marathon catapulted FXX like a test cat to the top of the 105 cable networks measured by the Nielsen Company, and yielded results about three times higher than executives at the channel expected.

Not only that, but FXX managed to finish as the highest-rated cable channel among viewers age 18-49 – the most desired audience by advertisers – for three nights out of 12. FXX was ranked 49th overall in that demographic prior to the marathon, but during it, it jumped to third place. Overall, the median audience age was 28, one of the youngest out of any network. The aforementioned key age range also happened to make up 841,000 of the total viewers each night, up more than 650% from the previous average of 111,000. Overall, the prime time marathon episodes logged 1.32 million total viewers, a 500% increase from the channel’s previous mark of 206,000. These results were consistent too; even in its final night, the shows reached well over a million viewers. And the last night’s episodes were not only the newest (and, according to some, the worst) of the dreaded “latter day” episodes, but they had just aired as recently as a few months ago.

But this is cable, a medium that until the marathon had never seen Simpsons episodes.

“This is happening at a time when many people are saying linear channels are dead and the only growth out there is in Netflix or streaming,” said John Landgraf, the chief executive of FX networks.

And Mr. Landgraf made no effort to hide the fact that a triumph for cable means a triumph for FXX.

“We are talking about a radical transformation of asset value,” he said, citing that the previous channel from which FXX sprang, Fox Soccer Channel, “had an asset value of nil.” (Which I suppose also says a lot about how little soccer means to the 74 million homes where the channel was previously – and FXX is now – available.)

So what does this all mean for the future? For starters, the ample amount of Simpsons episodes didn’t end with the marathon, because FXX plans to capitalize on their enormous success by packing its schedule full of mini-marathons, some running as long as four hours.

Episodes are also available on demand from the “Simpsons World” app, along with clips, original scripts, and the ability to sort through the catalog by theme, character, and many other variables.

Personally though, if I were running FXX, I’d run it straight into the ground I’d just keep giving the people what they want: non-stop Simpsons all day, every day, for the rest of eternity. I know, I know, it sounds crazy. But think about it. Even if FXX were to do this, each individual episode would only air an average of two or three times per month, and with the show constantly running, they’d always be on at different random times of the day or night. This means even if someone constantly had it on, the odds of seeing the same episode over and over and getting sick of it would be extremely slim.

Besides, what kind of sick, depraved individual would ever get sick of The Simpsons?

[via The New York Times]