How the Television Industry Experiments With Content Using Pilot Episodes
By Kimberly Grant
When it comes to the television industry, pilots can make or break a TV network. Pilots, which are the first episodes of a new show, are usually a form of test marketing. The television network is seeing how well or not well a show will do by seeing how tv watchers feel about the show. Let’s take a look at TV pilots from an experiment angle where TV networks are using test marketing.
Actors in a Laboratory
In a laboratory experiment, participants are put in an artificial setting for the purposes of controlling the experiment. When a television pilot is produced, actors, directors, writers, and various crew are placed in a position to write, film, edit, and score one television episode. This episode is not known to the general public. It is filmed quietly with little to no fanfare. Once the television episode or pilot is produced, it is edited to be seen by a controlled group. Lastly, the final product is shown to focus groups to get audience feedback on things big and small like hair color of the major actors and visual style of the main set.
That same episode gets the marketing treatment, as well. Behind the scenes interviews are filmed by a team whose sole purpose is to get first-hand reactions about the project from the actors and the director. Once the pilot is ready to be seen by an audience, promotional spots are released on television, radio, and online marketing. In these promotional spots the editors have generated a clip of scenes from the pilot to be seen by the general public. The behind-the-scenes footage is also edited to be commercial ready and released on the TV network and social media.
Field Testing the Artists
A field test is a situation in which the project is released in the real world in order for the television network to watch people make choices. During this time, the television network measures many people watch the TV pilot and talk about it. These days, a TV pilot is promoted for a few months before it is released to the masses. Lots of dollars are put into the producing and marketing of the TV pilot to generate as many eyeballs on the project as possible.
The TV network tests the pilot on its network, making the episode available live at its appointed air time and available for streaming. The network usually gives the pilot roughly a week to generate enough views to justify the next step in the television series process: a full season order. A full season order is when a network decides to produce 10 to 13 episodes of that television show for its first season. Each network has a number in mind – usually in the millions – of television watchers who watch and post about the television show to justify a full season order. This number is usually measured by Nielson ratings scans.
Showing and Telling
Having a pilot go to full season order is no small feat. It’s expensive test marketing. It requires a lot of steps to get to its final destination. Lastly, any TV pilot that makes it to a full season is considered a unicorn. Most TV pilots, if they even see a release in their future, don’t make it past the pilot stage. So, the next time you watch the first episode of a new TV show you can feel confident that you are participating in a large experiment. It’s a veritable win, win for the viewers and the networks. It’s also a great way to be entertained.
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