It’s a Mad Mad Men world for AMC
AMC is sending off its series “Mad Men” in style. On Wednesday night, the network started a marathon of all episodes of the show, running in order, leading up to the series finale Sunday night.
During the finale, AMC will also turn off programming at its sister networks, including IFC and BBC America, pointing audiences to the “Mad Men” finale.
The major promotional push for the show is also a strategic business move for AMC.
“It really does get across to people that this is quite a large programming entity with five networks. And it really brings some scale. And it can really attract attention,” says analyst John Tinker of Maxim Group.
The big finale campaign can help AMC promote other, newer shows that it’s added to its schedule more recently. At the same time, the end of a network’s big show can often lead to a period of decline for the network. And, AMC has recently ended two of its three big shows: “Breaking Bad” and, now, “Mad Men.”
Of course, it still has one of the priciest TV shows for advertisers, “The Walking Dead.”
Thomas Eagan of Telsey Advisory Group says it is important for AMC to get traction for new shows, because original programming—even if the ratings aren’t stellar—are coveted by advertisers.
“Buyers in the marketplace, the advertisers, they’ll pay a higher CPM for an original show, even if it has a lower rating,” says Eagan.
CPM stands for ‘cost per mille’ or the ad price per thousand viewers.
“Mad Men” has commanded a high price, says Eagan, because each week’s episode has been water cooler fodder, and audiences have watched the show live, instead of online or on the DVR where they might skip commercials.
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