Fox Courts Fear
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/8/2004
Forget sex. Fear is the program du jour. Fox-owned stations added Fear Factor to their off-net arsenal. Last week, the station group acquired the NBC Enterprises show to run as a strip next fall. "It's another aggressive step towards strengthening our duopolies with strong off-network product," says Frank Cicha, programming VP for the group.
The Fear Factor grab is Fox's third in recent weeks. It just renewed off-net sitcoms Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond, taking Raymond from Tribune in five markets and Seinfeld from Raycom in Cleveland. The Fox O&Os join Acme, Bahakel, Clear Channel, Cox, Emmis, Granite, Grant, Media General, Meredith, Milwaukee Journal, Raycom, Sinclair, Viacom, and Young, bringing Fear Factor's coverage to more than 70% of the country.
News Corp.-owned FX also purchased the show, at an estimated $250,000-$300,000 an episode as an hour-long strip for next summer. Both deals start this year and run for four years.
The station deal is all-barter, seven minutes of ad time each for the station and NBC. The show is likely to run in early or late fringe, says Sean O'Boyle, senior vice president and national syndication sales manager.
Network reality in the post-Who Wants To Be a Millionaire world has not been a fit for syndication, but Fear's producers saw potential after the first nine or so hours did well, says David Goldberg, president of Endemol USA, which creates the show.
In its fourth season, Fear Factor is a top performer for NBC, averaging a 5.9 rating in the key 18-49 demo, up 7% over last season, and 13.9 million viewers , up 8%. The show also is winning its Monday 8 p.m. slot in all key categories. It set records (8.4 rating/21 share in 18-49, 18.8 million viewers ) Feb. 16 with the last of eight couples competitions. Such ratings warmed advertisers to the gross-out show.
Unlike most reality shows, Fear Factor has a shelf life. Whether viewers can swallow it in fringe remains to be seen.
