Eye on Ratings, ABC Peers Into the Disney Toy Chest

That is changing. As part of a wide-ranging effort to find new hits, ABC is looking to the Magic Kingdom for firepower.

Among ABC’s 24 pilots for the next television season is a drama based on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a Disneyland roller coaster. Another pilot, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” is based on ancillary characters from “The Avengers,” which last year took in $1.5 billion at the global box office for Marvel Entertainment, a Disney unit. And “Once: Wonderland,” a spinoff of “Once Upon a Time,” a successful fairy tale television series introduced in 2011, focuses on Alice and her pals.

“It seemed crazy to live within the walls of one of the best content companies in the world and not to be taking advantage of it,” said Paul Lee, ABC’s president of entertainment.

These efforts are only in the pilot stage, Mr. Lee cautioned, adding that he is not trying to turn ABC into a Disney Channel for adults; programs that overtly trade on Disney stories could turn off ABC’s more sophisticated viewers. Harold L. Vogel, author of “Entertainment Industry Economics,” said Mr. Lee also faces pushback from TV producers who might revolt at “importing concepts from elsewhere in the corporation.” But if the concept works, ABC’s ratings troubles could ease or even reverse. Mr. Lee would also gain political capital within the company: Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, has made cross-company cooperation and franchise expansion a focus of his reign.

For the season to date, and including sports, ABC ranks last among the Big Four broadcast networks in the advertiser-friendly demographic of adults 18 to 49. The network’s prime-time slate has attracted an average of 2.9 million viewers in that age bracket, a 4 percent decline from the same period last year, according to Nielsen.

Sports-heavy NBC and Fox both rank slightly ahead of ABC by this measure, though both have had steeper year-on-year declines. CBS, bolstered by the Super Bowl, ranks No. 1, with an average of 3.8 million adults 18 to 49.

ABC has its strengths — a large degree of family co-viewing is one, the hit sitcom “Modern Family” is another — but, like all broadcasters, it has struggled to find new breakout hits and has a limited marketing budget. Mr. Lee hopes to better use Disney’s vast empire to get people to notice his new programs. “Once Upon a Time,” for instance, has been advertised on the Disney Cruise line, and costumes from the series have been exhibited at Disney parks.

“Big Thunder” comes from Melissa Rosenberg, a writer-producer who is best known for her work on the “Twilight” movie series. Mr. Lee described it as “a rock ’n’ roll western” — in its spirit if not in actual song — about a man who moves to a mining town with his ailing son, whose health begins to mysteriously improve.

ABC and Marvel have kept a tight lid on “S.H.I.E.L.D.,” but the pilot was directed and co-written by Joss Whedon, who also directed “The Avengers” and is known to TV fans as the force behind “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The “S.H.I.E.L.D.” project, which got its start when Mr. Iger personally suggested that ABC take a look at it, focuses on spies who oversee superhero field operations.

Mr. Lee’s hunt for programming with more Disney DNA comes as ABC shares more talent with its popular cable cousin, ABC Family. Joey Lawrence of the ABC Family series “Melissa Joey,” for instance, has doubled as a host of “Splash,” a diving competition reality show, on ABC this spring.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/business/media/eye-on-ratings-abc-peers-into-the-disney-toy-chest.html?partner=rss&emc=rss