UPN Banks on Rock to Roll
Chris Rock
UPN thinks everybody is going to love
Everybody Hates Chris. In the weeks leading up to the show's Sept. 22 premiere, it will be hard to avoid it.
The show created by Chris Rock and based on his childhood years is getting the biggest promotional blitz in the history of UPN. You'll see the usual stuff — ads that run before movies in theaters and on DVDs, posters on every New York City bus and tons of radio ads. But UPN thinks Rock's show deserves extra-special treatment.
Starting in September, the entire pilot episode will be shown on American Airline flights that carry CBS programming. That amounts to 4 million captive viewers. George Schweitzer, marketing chief for CBS and UPN, says no new show has ever been given that kind of exposure before its premiere.
UPN has also sent "street teams," outfitted in Chris T-shirts, to urban centers to distribute up to 1 million DVD copies of the pilot. They were at the X Games earlier this month and are showing up at baseball games and concerts in big cities around the country.
"Wherever lots of people congregate, we give them out," says Schweitzer. "We want to get the pilot in people's hands, particularly influencers, and have them pass it on. We have a great product here, and we need as many people as possible to watch it."
The effort to launch Chris — which will cost the network somewhere in the seven-figure territory — proves just how much is riding on the show. UPN has been a money-loser since it launched in 1995. Chris is seen as a game-changer — a hit worthy of one of the major networks — that could put UPN solidly ahead of WB in the ratings and on the road to profitability.
The advertising community has loved the show since it was previewed back in May, and it's by far the favorite among TV critics. With this kind of promotional support, you have to wonder: If Everybody Hates Chris doesn't work for UPN, what will?