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The Idiot's Lantern

Finally: An Article Concerned With What Men Really Want (No, Really)

by Jamie Frevele | 3:17 pm, August 12th

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Hollywood Reporter has an article about the challenges faced by TV executives in marketing to a particular demographic. No, not women! This is actually not another article talking about how hard it is to market towards a female audience! This is actually about men, specifically those in the 15-34 age demographic. And surprisingly enough, it’s not a matter of catering to the lowest common denominator because the most popular shows watched by men are hardly what you’d consider “filler.” And the reasons they like what they like are truly anthropological. This is insightful, interesting, and not your typical “What Men Want” article.

Since statistics cited by THR show that the TV-watching audience is about 60 percent women (they don’t cite a source), advertisers find it slightly less expensive to buy commercials during “female-friendly” shows. However, that won’t stop execs from shelling out the cash to advertise during “male-friendly” shows, even if the audience and ratings are smaller. (We’ll note that we do not specifically endorse the assignment of gender to shows, but for the sake of this story, we’re just going to go with what they’re saying here.) It depends mostly on loyalty — even if advertisers buy commercials during low-rated shows, such as those on cable, if men are watching the shows on a regular basis, the advertisements are worth it because they are extremely likely to be seen.

But what THR also found was that there are different motivations behind what men watch. They say that women watch certain shows because it gives them a sense of empowerment (e.g., Oprah, to cite a stereotypical example). But men watch shows for different reasons, like getting pumped (!), or getting ready “for battle”:

According to ad-buying firm Starcom, men consume media for four reasons: to prepare themselves for battle; to feel rebellious; to connect to a passion (mostly sports, music or cars); and to be mentally challenged. Starcom measured 600 media outlets, including TV, digital and print properties, and polled 20,000 people to arrive at a proprietary “emotional index” for planning and buying purposes.

This means they gravitate towards shows that are not only entertaining but informative (The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, ESPN, CNBC, etc.) as well as subversive, allowing them to “be rebellious” (Adult Swim, Tosh.0, etc.). And obviously, competitive, which revealed that there is a huge male audience for shows like American Idol and NBC‘s The Voice.

They enjoy things that are entertaining, informative, and subversive? My god… these “men” sound just like… us!

The lists of the top 10 shows by men of various ethnicities in the 18-34 demo are very interesting, to say the least. Yes, lots of cartoons, lots of sports, but singing and dancing competition shows? (And Chelsea Lately!) That’s awesome. But it’s also why we have to endure AXE commercials during Robot Chicken. It’s cool, guys. We don’t mind sharing. Lets go watch some My Little Pony.

(Hollywood Reporter)

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    That’s ’cause you’re GEEK women! ;) Remember the comic cited in the ‘why this website exists’ section?

    I would be amused to see if car companies start buying space during ‘My Little Pony’ if this ‘brony’ thing catches on. ;)

  • http://www.extremelydissatisfied.wordpress.com Adam R. Charpentier

    I still don’t get the My Little Pony thing…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    My Little Pony is a cartoon created for girls which has a large male fanbase, so it’s a little bit of irony at the end of the article. 

    My personal suspicion is that Lauren Faust is a geek girl may have had something to do with it. I did notice she makes the shy, bookish pony *the main character*, which you rarely see outside of anime.

    While I haven’t watched the show extensively so I can’t comment, my impression (and I’m sure MLP fans here can fill me in) is that the show engages in a lot of the sort of detailed fantasy worldbuilding typical of fantasy and science fiction.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    Oh, and BTW: the reason men, particularly young men, are such sought-after advertising targets is quite unflattering: IT’S BECAUSE THEY THINK WE’RE IMPULSIVE AND WASTE MONEY ON CRAP.

  • http://zadl.org ZAD-L, Last Zombie of Krypton

    That and it’s just fun to watch. I… am a Brony. I watched a couple of episodes out of curiosity, liked them, and kept watching. 

    I haven’t put any real thought into why I like it other than it’s well done and I smile during it. 

  • http://www.extremelydissatisfied.wordpress.com Adam R. Charpentier

    That is such a load of b-ohmygawd, Star Wars is being released on Blu-Ray?

    PRE-ORDER’N LIKE A BOSS!

  • http://www.extremelydissatisfied.wordpress.com Adam R. Charpentier

    I get that. No one ever has to explain to ME why they like anything. It’s like fricken Apple Jacks. But I, personally, look at the show and see a plethora of other like-minded cartoons that have come from Cartoon Network. I’m a grown up, though I don’t generally act like one, but I fear I may have outgrown American ‘toons around the time The Power Puff Girls was released. At least the weekly, sitcomy, carefree variety. Maybe it’s more mature and layered, like an Ogre, but…eh. Fudge it. Enjoy your ponies, man.

  • Anonymous

    I honestly thought that would be my reaction to the show.  Probably the last American cartoon I gave a serious shot actually was PPG, and I made it maybe a half dozen episodes before getting bored. I thought MLP would be basically the same thing after the first couple of episodes, which were a pretty straight magical girl show… and then they switched to a slice of life approach and the characters actually started to deepen and show progressive development, which is sadly atypical of American cartoons. And Pinkie Pie started delivering some pretty killer comedic scenes.  First show of any kind I’ve deliberately watched all the way through since probably season 11 of South Park. Adventure Time is decent but I don’t care if I miss an episode here or there.

    But I can’t rule out the possibility that most of my entertainment is how crazy (in a mostly good way) the fan community is, and how upset people get at men liking a show targeted at women.  I don’t fully understand my interest, just like I don’t understand right now why I went and wrote yet another wall of text about ponies. Anyway, cheers.

  • Anonymous

    Us dudes arm ourselves for battle with the Weather Channel? Men especially watch the Weather Channel? And why is it framed as a battle?

  • Anonymous

    tinyurl.com/2df4ccp

  • http://www.facebook.com/duffy.elmer Duffy Elmer
  • Anonymous

    Shows such as Fox’s animated comedies The Simpsons and Family Guy
    — which averaged a middling 7.3 million and 7.8 million total viewers
    last season, respectively — can charge more than $250,000 for a
    30-second spot. That’s 14 percent more than the female-skewing ABC drama
    Grey’s Anatomy, which averaged nearly 12 million viewers and charged about $220,000 for a 30-second commercial last season. “

    All this proves it that they really hate women more than they like money. If the advertisers had any kind of brain they’d say ‘fuck it’ to Family Guy ad time and just buy ad time during Grey’s Anatomy.

  • Anonymous

    Isn’t that what they think of teenage girls, too? Yet, apparently that market is not worth as much to them as the guys are.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins

    Family Guy and Simpsons have ENORMOUS merchandising potential. People buy way more coffee mugs, bobble heads, shirts, posters, toothbrushes, and whatever the hell else with Stewie or Homer on them than with Grey or… uh… that one guy… who’s also a character on that show. Just saying, there’s more to monetary gain that viewer ratings. Also, I suspect that people are in more of an impulsive consumer mode while watching a frivolous, absurd comedy than while watching a teary drama.

  • Anonymous

    You are utterly missing the point. We are not talking about merchandise for the show, we are talking about the products advertised during the commercial break.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins

    Men watch Chelsea Lately? That makes me ashamed to be betesticled.

    I don’t know about American Idol preparing me for battle (except against the producers of American Idol), but I sure as shit feel like fucking some motherfuckers up after watching Breaking Bad, Justified, Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, or Generation Kill. Which also kinda makes me ashamed.

  • Anonymous

    tinyurl.com/2df4ccp

  • http://twitter.com/KennyZ3D Kenny Zaborny

    That explains a lot of commercials during shows that I really didn’t expect to see.  An Axe commercial on Disney XD during Naruto, a Camaro commercial during Danny Phantom, and a shave gel commercial during Battleforce 5.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ammie-Hisaka/100001798512605 Ammie Hisaka

    I just want to know, to which gender did Friday Night Lights skew? Or is FNL not ‘geeky’ enough? (Landry would beg to differ on that, btw.)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    Yes, but adult men have more spending money.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    You’re right, it doesn’t fit well with the other things.

    When journalists have a list of 10 things, they try to make a story out of them. Sometimes 1 or 2 of the 10 doesn’t fit. 

    That said traditionally men were more ‘outdoor’ than women, so there’s some weak gender associations to it.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    I have my doubts that advertisers hate any group that will give them money, but Fenghuang has a point. My guess would be that either advertisers think they can have an easier time bamboozling men into buying crap (as I suspect), or long-running shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy can overcharge because people think they’re watched more than they are. But if anyone would know exactly how many viewers a show had, advertisers would.

    That said, I suspect Fenghuang is correct in that they think they can sell more stuff to men. It’s not about hatred–look at all the commercials making fun of men.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    Ah, so it’s got ongoing development, like anime. Makes sense. Also, it seems likely Faust, with her science-fictiony resume (‘Iron Giant’, ‘Quest for Camelot’, ‘The Maxx’), would have been exposed to anime. 

  • Anonymous

    You make good points.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOFTU2AM7WRZZFDC6SPN4XF6KQ Null

    For geek men, football represents the hegemonic anti-intellectual culture we hate.

    Not sure what it represents for geek women, who are expected to like pink and ruffly stuff rather than running around with a ball.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins

    “long-running shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy can overcharge because people think they’re watched more than they are”

    In large part because of their enormous merchandising revenues. I know the article is talking about viewer ratings, I’m just saying the reasons one show can get more advertising bucks than another are more complex than, “Women? Pfffff!”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ammie-Hisaka/100001798512605 Ammie Hisaka

    As one of said geek women, it represents amazing television is what it represents. And very few ruffles.