ProSieben Maxx – Germany

SCHEDULE WATCH CHANNEL PROFILE: Male-skewing ProSieben Maxx is going for growth on the back of several high-profile new shows and a revamped weekend primetime line-up this fall. Gün Akyuz reports

Overview
Male-focused ProSieben Maxx has continued to make audience gains in Germany’s free-to-air television market with a broadening slate of local factual fare and licensed series and documentaries.

The channel is aiming for a 1.2% channel share average for 2015, and a 2% share of target 14-39 men. “I’m confident we’ll make it,” says general manager René Carl. Year-to-date, the 20-month-old channel has attracted a 1.1% share of 14-49s and a 1.9% share of core 14-39 male viewers.

“The fact is I’m really proud that we have established the channel’s ratings beyond the 1% share of 14-49s faster than any other new FTA channel in Germany,” says Carl. “It was really fascinating to see how quickly viewers accepted the channel and really liked the content.”

The results have so far vindicated the channel’s content strategy. “Instead of being another single-topic channel addressing, for instance, only factual or documentary viewers or only movie viewers, we decided, given the ProSieben name and brand and for the male audience in general, that we wanted to offer a whole portfolio of genres for that audience, and this was really well accepted.”

Carl claims the channel’s broader content strategy has helped it cut through faster than equivalent channel newcomers such as DMax or RTL Nitro, despite its smaller technical reach and the fact that it launched into a more competitive FTA landscape.

“Other competitors started with a much higher percentage of homes than us. We currently have an 87% technical reach but only 54% of homes watch us, so it’s still a matter of tune-in,” notes Carl. “But once people watch us, they like us and we’re now playing in the same league as competitors, even with half the households.”

ProSieben Maxx’s programming pillars include a broad range of male-skewing local factual entertainment shows, spearheaded by spin-off science brand Galileo 360, joined by a growing handful of local shows over the last year-and-a-half. It also airs US series, US movies, animé and a large volume of factual acquisitions.

“It’s not only the portfolio of content but also the freshness and quality of that content that we felt was important,” adds Carl. “We did not want to be the channel that showed the leftovers of others. We wanted to be a complement for the market, and for our group, so we invested in fresh programmes, first-runs and 16:9 HD-quality content, and this has paid off as well.”

The channel’s audience target has shifted from its original launch position as an older-skewing male-focused network targeting 30-59s, originally intended to retain 30-something men once they begin to leave ProSieben. Research showed that the difference in viewer age between the two channels was less than expected – but with ProSieben Maxx on average still six years older – so the channel’s core demo has since been revised down to target a core of younger 14-39 men. “We remain complementary to ProSieben, which doesn’t specifically target men, so we’re providing a good additional offer,” says Carl.

Current schedule
A major coup for ProSieben Maxx this autumn will be the launch of live coverage of the NFL in primetime on Sundays from September 13, marking the first time the event is being covered to this extent on German TV.

Amounting to two live shows, from 19.00 and 22.30, and a total of 43 matches, Carl says it’s a really big development for the channel. “American football has a large following in Germany,” he explains, citing last year’s Superbowl, which generated a 39.6% share on sibling Sat.1. “We’ll be showing the road to the Superbowl and the whole game series before that,” says Carl, who hopes the sport will bring in a 2% share of core viewers.

Last year saw the channel broaden its output to include sports entertainment for the first time, with the arrival of WWE Smackdown. First launched on Saturdays, followed by a move to Fridays, it was “a major move and got really good ratings,” says Carl. The event attracted shares of up to 5.3% among 14-39 men and 3.4% among 14-49s – well above the channel’s average.

ProSieben Maxx’s “very hands-on management,” has resulted in a number of programming changes since its launch. An early move was doing away with repeats of ProSieben programmes in primetime on Sundays. Carl says the repeats failed to give the smaller channel any USP, and it switched to classic movies instead.

With the exception of a few movies, Carl says there’s very little overlap between the two channels: “We have huge amounts of documentaries and animation programming, WWE sports programming and the locally commissioned shows we do are all different to ProSieben’s, so we try and differentiate our offer and be really complementary to enlarge viewing within the group.”

Original production, factual, formats
To date, ProSieben Maxx has premiered a handful of locally originated productions, all factual. The channel avoids local comedy and pure entertainment – both core programme areas for siblings ProSieben and ProSieben Fun – and scripted and scripted reality. “When it comes to local productions, the channel is really built on the principle of authentic, pure, real stories and documentaries,” says Carl.

A key brand is science magazine Galileo 360, which generated its best market share yet in mid-July, pulling in a 1.7% share of target 14-49s on Thursday at 20.15. “I’m really proud of the format as a production. It has been on the channel since the beginning and is really growing and helping to stabilise and grow the channel’s market share,” says Carl.

“My strategy for local productions is a mix of established brands like Galileo 360 and new brands like Man Made,” says Carl. The show, which airs after Galileo on Thursdays at 22.00, follows host Niels-Peter Jensen who explores the world of small handicraft businesses. Other originals include two male cookery shows, Flames and Beef Battle, both airing on Sundays to shares of up to 3.3% and 3.4% among 14-39s respectively this season.

All of the above shows have been successful and will continue over the next year, says Carl. “I want to build up some trust with brands and established brands that will accompany the viewer all year-round.” Alongside a new season of Galileo 360, which runs year-long, this autumn includes a second season of Man Made, a fifth season of Flames and a fourth of Beef Battle.

Carl is looking to establish one or two new local shows a year. “It gives me the opportunity to test out and establish new faces for the channel,” he says, citing the launch of five-parter Cowboy & Dandy, which launched this summer, picking up a 1.5% share of 14-49s. Launching on July 23 is another five-part fact ent series, Monster Rides USA, profiling rollercoaster rides in the US.

ProSieben Maxx is set to further broaden its content offering this autumn with the arrival of a new local, as-yet untitled factual investigative strand.

A topic that has failed to take off on the channel, despite its male skew, is men and cars. “We tried to do the typical men and cars topic, with both a licensed show [Cars That Rock with Brian Johnson] and a locally commissioned show [So fährt die Welt], but they performed below the channel’s average,” says Carl. “We can only be a ‘me too’ in this genre, as there’s already so much out there on the topic, so we won’t be following that strategy any longer.”

The channel is instead considering urban adventure, adventure and “men doing cool things,” says Carl, and he’s looking for more programme ideas in this vein. Factual mystery and paranormal themes, along the lines of shows such as Paranormal Witness, are also a possibility, says Carl, but adds that they’re “all tests to see what will work, as we don’t have a recipe yet.”

Carl says further, as-yet undisclosed, local developments are due in the first half of next year to test a mix of new format ideas and faces, with a focus on productions with event and/or potential to attract viewers.

The next factual event, arriving this autumn, will be a day dedicated to the world’s deserts on October 3, following a new deal struck with high-profile German geographer and photographer Michael Martin based on his book Deserts of the Earth, exhibitions and lecture tours.

Factual acquisitions, formats
Acquired documentaries and factual entertainment play a large role on ProSieben Maxx’s schedule, servicing both daytime strips and primetime. A big source is a volume deal with BBC Worldwide, spanning hundreds of hours, which the channel has renewed for 2015/16, principally around the BBC Earth brand, says Carl. The channel also has a significant package deal with A&E for shows such as Duck Dynasty and Mountain Men.

This fall ProSieben Maxx is launching World’s Craziest Championships. Original footage of the show has been licensed by German prodco Seo, which is localising it with humorous German commentary. The new show is being lined up for access primetime on Sundays in September as the lead-in to the channel’s new live NFL coverage.

The combination should significantly reinvigorate ProSieben Maxx’s Sunday evenings, which previously fielded classic movies against blockbusters on ProSieben and RTL, or popular crime series Tatort on public broadcaster ARD. “It was a hard fight and is one of the reasons we came up with launching the NFL as a strategic move to offer viewers in Germany a different kind of programme on Sundays besides movies,” says Carl. “It also means we can show better movies in the remaining slots and get a better overall performance in Sunday primetime.”

While Carl says he may have found a recipe that works with the NFL on Sunday evenings, primetime on Saturday remains a challenge. “It’s a problem for many small channels in Germany,” he observes. “The big competitors, like RTL, ProSieben and Sat.1, really have strong primetime line-ups, especially at weekends.” The channel’s Saturday documentaries line-up, generally performs below average, despite airing quality productions. Carl calls it “a construction site where I want to improve the ratings in future. So I’ll test some new colours there, including new acquired documentaries.”

The more successful content tested there so far has been big international shows along the lines of Mega Movers, combined with male-oriented formats such as prison doc series Hard Time or Lockdown in later slots, featuring “tough guys doing tough stuff,” says Carl.

Although such shows stabilise the ratings, Carl says he’s looking for broader male-skewing content with some co-viewing potential to help lift the evening’s primetime shares above the channel’s average and fuel further growth. “We have some blue-chip BBC productions coming up in the autumn to see whether they work, such as Earth’s Natural Wonders and ‘crazy nature’ programming such as Wild Alaska,” says Carl.

In general, Carl says that the channel needs male-skewing documentaries of a high production standard, character-driven rather than classical and fronted by well-known or recognisable faces. There are also openings for international factual entertainment formats, either to air in the original dubbed into German or as cost-effective formats for a smaller channel to adapt locally.

Acquisitions, drama
Acquisition pillars in ProSieben Maxx’s schedule include its Tuesday evening movies, drawing on the ProSiebenSat.1 group’s deals, featuring titles such as Natural Born Killers, Hildago and Conan. Occasionally, the channel also airs newer fast repeats from ProSieben.

The channel also schedules a successful slate of sci-fi, supernatural and mystery series on Mondays and Wednesdays, featuring shows like Supernatural, Stargate Atlantis and Eureka. This year, the latter topped the channel’s rankings with shares of up to 8.7% among core 14-39 men and 3.7% of 14-49s. Currently airing on Tuesdays is the free TV premiere of Alphas, while new US series lined up for the channel’s autumn season include sci-fi series Helix.

The channel no longer airs original US series with German subtitles, however. Although Carl personally liked the feature, the channel was growing faster overall than the target group attracted to this specific type of offering, he explains, and there are no plans to revisit the strategy.

ProSieben Maxx also event-schedules high-concept series such as 24 and House of Cards. This spring, for instance, it cleared its late-evening schedule to air the new season of 24 as a week-long event. Carl says the move was a success for the channel, attracting up to 4.9% of 14-39 men. The event, spanning three episodes back-to-back on Mondays from 22.15, continued with two episodes per evening and a further three on Friday, generating shares of up to 4.9% among 14-39 men.

“It wasn’t binge viewing, but a week-long event to watch the series at the same time every evening,” says Carl, suggesting that such a scheduling strategy could be one way for linear TV to counter online binge viewing, depending on the content and programming. “We’ll be showing House of Cards season three this autumn in a similar way,” he says. Another upcoming launch on the channel this fall is the US version of The Bridge.

This summer, the channel finally ended its kids’ animation block Yep!. Initially an early engine for growth, the kids’ block impacted on the channel’s overall market share of younger male viewers, and has been phased out to be replaced by a broader portfolio of daytime US fiction and documentary strips. “We took the strategic decision to exit the kids offer, because for a grown-up channel like ProSieben Maxx, the programme selection, marketing and PR should focus on one target group and not be separated between kids and adults,” says Carl.

However, he says animé, which featured within the block, remains a USP for the channel. It currently airs older blue-chip Japanese animation that appeals to adult audiences, such as Once Piece, Yu Gi Oh! and Naruto, and last year it opened up an adult animé slot, currently scheduled on Wednesdays.

Digital
For ProSieben Maxx’s younger-skewing male viewer, second-screen devices and the internet are important, and Carl says the channel is very active on social media, uses viral marketing and offers programme information and clips on Prosiebenmaxx.de.

For catch-up and streaming on digital or second-screen devices, the channel’s programmes are housed within the ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s online VoD service and app 7TV. “We try to get as many rights as we can for all our content, but for some licensed shows we don’t have catch-up, and it depends on the deal with the major studios or documentary licensors,” says Carl.

ProSieben Maxx’s top 10 shows of 2014/15
(Rank, title, type, date, slot, % share 14-49s, % share 14-39s – highest single showing, Sep 1, 2014-July 12, 2015)

1. Eureka – Die Geheime Stadt, US series, Jul 8, 23.00, 3.7, 8.7
2. Stargate, US series, Nov 21, 18.37, 2.8, 7.6
3. Conan, US movie, May 15, 22.44, 2.6, 5.5
4. Falling Skies, US series, Dec 17, 23.04, 2.5, 5.4
5. WWE SmackDown, ent sport, Apr 10, 23.12, 3.4, 5.3
6. Star Trek – Der Aufstand, US series, Jan 27, 22.21, 2.1, 5.3
7. Stargate: Atlantis, US series, Jul 8, 21.05, 1.8, 5.0
8. Two and a Half Men, US sitcom, Jan 9, 21.37, 1.9, 5.0
9. 24, US series, May 22, 23.49, 2.1, 4.9
10. Extreme Fishing – Mit Robson Green, UK fact ent, Oct 5, 15.21, 1.4, 4.7

Source: ProSieben Maxx, AGF & GfK, TV Scope