{"id":17211,"date":"2024-06-22T19:47:23","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T03:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kateohare\/?p=17211"},"modified":"2024-06-25T06:07:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T14:07:31","slug":"great-american-family-bill-abbott-mario-lopez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kateohare\/2024\/06\/great-american-family-bill-abbott-mario-lopez\/","title":{"rendered":"Great American Family CEO Bill Abbott on GAF and Pure Flix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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It\u2019s a Tuesday morning in June, and Great American Media president and CEO Bill Abbott is hard at it, especially for the upcoming Christmas season on Great American Family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I even want to talk about it,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s how busy I am. It\u2019s a lot going on, but it\u2019s all good. But the preparation for the second half of the year, and the content slate really kicks into gear here as we get into the latter half of 2024, which is exciting, but there\u2019s a lot to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bigger Budgets for Great American Family<\/h3>\n Catching up after our first chat<\/a> back in March, Abbott says he has already got Christmas movies in various stages of production and post-production for Great American Family.<\/p>\n That includes My Grown Up Christmas Wish<\/em>, starring Mario Lopez and his family.<\/p>\n But Abbott\u2019s not thinking about following the lead of other cable channels and coming up with a huge tentpole series, a la HBO\u2019s Game of Thrones<\/em> (and its spinoffs) or AMC\u2019s Walking Dead<\/em> (and its spinoffs).<\/p>\n Says Abbott, \u201cWe\u2019ll have some big announcements coming that will be bigger-budget movies that are going to be great for us. But beyond that, it\u2019s HBO.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it with AMC where they\u2019ve had a few big hit shows, but then once that well runs dry, the financial model changes dramatically, and you can see the result in both AMC and Max, the result and their stock price.<\/p>\n \u201cSo from our point of view, we want to provide a consistent experience for the subscriber and the viewer on a weekly basis. And to do that, we don\u2019t need to do the huge big-budget series or movies that are the tentpole pieces, because our audience is really just looking to be entertained in a certain way on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find that model just financially is more sound and isn\u2019t so hit-dependent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Perils of the Tentpole-Series Model<\/h3>\n \ What happens when a tentpole series ends?<\/p>\n \ Says Abbott, \u201cIt\u2019s hard enough sleeping at night when you\u2019ve got a consistent seasonal theme going, or a run of movies going, where you\u2019re getting a lot of viewership.<\/p>\n \ \u201cBut I can\u2019t imagine trying to develop a hit series that puts you in a position where you have to drive people to your service, keep them there for that period of time, and then potentially they go away.<\/p>\n \ \u201cSo from our point of view, it\u2019s really that turn-it-on-and leave-it-on experience that is so key.\u201d<\/p>\n \ Abbott\u2019s thinking is closer to the heyday of broadcast networks, where the goal was to hook viewers at the beginning of primetime and keep them there until the local news came on. But in today\u2019s pick-and-choose environment, network brand loyalty is fast disappearing.<\/p>\n \ Creating a Safe Family Environment in the Scripted Space<\/h3>\n \ In an era when \u201cfamily TV\u201d is more often than not unscripted fare, like HGTV, Animal Planet, Food Network, etc., Abbott\u2019s goal in scripted is to ensure a consistent experience and a safe environment.<\/p>\n \ His shows and movies usually aren\u2019t made for the whole family (not a lot of littles are that into Christmas rom-coms), but you don\u2019t have to shoo kids out of the room or worry that something racy or scandalous is going to happen when you\u2019re not looking.<\/p>\n \ \u201cWe have a lot of families and women, 25 to 54,\u201d says Abbott, \u201cwho are looking to ensure that the environment and that something that\u2019s on isn\u2019t going to give them nightmares.<\/p>\n \ \u201cLife is hard enough. We don\u2019t need to put something on that\u2019s going to shock you or make you feel unsafe, and that\u2019s a big piece of it. Or have your kids see it and have them have nightmares. That\u2019s a big piece of our success and what we\u2019re building here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Challenge of Churn in Streaming<\/h3>\n*** ** With its acquisition of Pure Flix, now called Great American Pure Flix, Great American Media is also in the streaming business. One big issue that streaming has yet to crack is churn.<\/p>\n ** It\u2019s something that pay cable also experiences, but it\u2019s even more intense in streaming. Churn is when people subscribe for a specific series, but, as soon as it\u2019s done, they cancel. Or, they wait until the whole series is available on the service, then subscribe, binge and bounce.<\/p>\n ** For many (myself included) one more streaming sub is one too many.<\/p>\n ** \u201cSo in our case,\u201d Abbott says, \u201cthey\u2019ll come in, they\u2019ll watch either on a trial for seven days, or they\u2019ll pay for it for a month and then boom, they\u2019re out.<\/p>\n ** ***\u201cAnd that is devastating to our economic model and really puts us in a position where we need those series that allow us to keep the audience in for longer than a seven-day trial or a month.\u201d<\/p>\n So, one big series won\u2019t do. A streamer needs a stable of ongoing series to keep viewers turning in. Abbott\u2019s putting the money where his mouth is, announcing four original series<\/a> this year for Pure Flix, most recently Shadrach<\/em>, from Sony Affirm Originals, filmed in Georgia.<\/p>\n