Although David Kirkwood, VP sales & marketing for CHUM Television, declines to talk numbers, he says the return of The Ellen DeGeneres Show for a fourth season on September 4th is good news revenue-wise. ‘We’ve had a few other daytime talk shows that I’d say ‘controversial’ is probably the kindest way to describe them. Even if the ratings were good, they were what I call advertiser-repellant. In fact, we actually had some advertisers refuse to be on in those time slots.
‘The Ellen show is the complete opposite and I can’t think of a single advertiser that’s asked not to be in its time slot. It’s light enough, it’s accessible and – like Oprah, which isn’t ours – it’s positive in its tone. I think what distinguishes it as well is that it can be an efficient buy certainly for women 25-54, but also for all adults. It has a wider appeal and isn’t as sex-skewed as some other shows, which makes it better for us. Having said all that,’ Kirkwood adds with a laugh,’ I don’t want other networks bidding for this show. We want to keep it.’
NBC recently confirmed renewal of the daily talk show, which is syndicated by Warner Bros., for another three seasons, taking it through the 2009-10 season.
