Analysis of Existing TV Line-ups

Television Channels employ a range of techniques to schedule their programming. Throughout this post I'll be looking at what they are, how they are used and possible reasons for their choice. Typically there are 5 main methods of scheduling.

Hammocking:
This is the method of placing a less popular show between two popular ones. The theory is that the audience will sit through the less popular show waiting for the second popular one to come on, therefore allowing them to sell advertising at a higher price. In the past this system worked better, but with the advent of Digital and Satellite TV audiences now have a far wider choice, and thus are not as willing to sit through something.

Inheritance Factor:
Similar to Hammocking, this places a new show immediately after an established one. The hope is that a significant proportion of the larger existing audience will continue watching the new programme.

Stripping / Stranding:
Stripping is scheduling the same show at the same time each day. This is commonly used in Soap Operas, such as Coronation Street. This allows the audience to know exactly when a programme would be on. Before Sky+ and On Demand viewing became established this would have been more important. Stranding is along similar lines, however it is about types of programming rather than a specific show.

Theming / Zoning:
This is where channels will run a large block of related programming for an evening, or part of an evening. You can observe this quite often on Dave, where they quite often run blocks of shows over the course of an entire evening.

Trailing and Promoting:

Because of the pressure numerous channels places on retaing viewing figures, many channels now self promote. Trailering shows being aired later that day, week or coming soon is a way of keeping their audience on their channel. Quite often related channels will cross promote - for example BBC1 will show promotional material for other BBC channels.

First up, Channel 5:

Channel 5 has a major contrast, as do most channels, between day and evening programming. Generally the day time audience is made up of mothers, students, the retired and the unemployed. Therefore during this time the programming will consist of inexpensive shows, for example above a repeat of a previous episode of The Gadget Show and an older film. A film has the benefit of taking up a larger amount of time on a schedule, while retaining the ability to insert advertising segments.

In the evening we can see an example of both theming and hammocking. CSI is dominant in this prime time line up, yet we can see highlighted a clip show which will most likely have a smaller audience than the main show.

Next I viewed Dave in the evenings.

Dave is another good example of Theming. At 7PM we can see That Mitchel and Webb Look is being shown in an hour long+ segment. Dave also regularly runs their own promotional advertising, most often for new themed nights which occur very frequently. Dave also frequent run promotions for further themed nights. It's rare for Dave to trailer anything, since it's primary base is on well known and established shows, catering for a traditionalist audience.

I also viewed BBC3 who have a different way to fill their schedule:

Ceasing transmission is a way of reducing costs for channels. Especially if they have a very specific target audience as BBC3 does, which is for hedonistic / post modern audiences. Typically young adults who would not be viewing the channel during the day.

After analysing this it's quite clear that there are multiple options available to me for my channel's scheduling. I'd like to do some further research into my audience's viewing times to evaluate the best options. It would be more cost effective to cease broadcasting when the audience is not watching, than use Channel 5's system simply due to the type of channel I am creating, the gap between the daytime audience and the one I have targeted is too great.