America 1982-Chapter 377 - 40: He Passed Away?!
As Tommy was on his way to participate in the casting jury for Stephen’s new film, he received a call from Earl Rash.
The results of BT Television’s privately commissioned audience ratings survey were finally out. For a network that had no flagship regional stations of its own, relying entirely on affiliated stations, the performance was quite good.
The ratings for "Finding Daddy in America" were 4.7.
The ratings for "NiggerBoss" were 3.9.
According to Nielsen ratings, where every 1% market share equals 1.5 million viewers, 7.05 million people had watched BT Television’s "Finding Daddy in America," and 5.85 million had watched Tommy’s crime series "NiggerBoss," targeted at the Black audience.
In a United States with a population of 240 million, these figures might seem insignificant, but in reality, they had already made all three major networks take notice of BT Television.
Of course, industry insiders had been aware of BT’s establishment before, like Jamie Crosby from FOX, but upon learning that BT Television had no flagship station of its own, they treated it as a joke. They thought its founder was an amateur for creating a network wholly dependent on affiliated stations and expected it to shut down soon.
But now, in their eyes, Tommy might still be a commercial fool, but he was no longer considered an amateur in television because BT Television’s programs were well-produced, each with a strong hook.
"Finding Daddy in America" and "NiggerBoss" were prime-time shows, meaning that their broadcasts competed with the signature shows from the three major networks and FOX for ratings.
The CBS program in the same time slot had ratings of 14.3, the NBC program had 14, the ABC program had 17.5, and the FOX program had 15.9.
If we only compared them like this, BT Television would definitely be considered a minor player, but what truly brought BT Television to the industry’s attention was its late-night slot.
"Wife Swap Game" had ratings of 12.3, "Almighty Gun Mod King" had 9.1, both breaking nine.
CBS in the same time slot was 6.7, NBC was 7.1, ABC was 8.1, FOX was 8.6.
The low ratings for CBS and NBC’s late-night shows were mainly because their audiences skewed towards middle-aged and older viewers, who usually went to bed after the prime-time shows.
Before FOX’s establishment, ABC was the late-night king, targeting the other two major networks. ABC made numerous optimizations for its late-night shows tailored to night owls, like airing edgy teen romance films late at night for American teenagers who dare not subscribe to adult channels with their parents asleep, delivering perks.
This allowed ABC to maintain a late-night ratings above nine before FOX was established. However, once FOX appeared, ABC was quickly dethroned because FOX was more unscrupulous. ABC aired edgy teen romance films?
FOX went straight for broadcasting movies that "accidentally" included nudity due to editing errors.
The FCC issued fines to FOX all year round for these editing mishaps, but FOX insisted on paying the fines rather than diverting young viewers’ eyes away from their channel. In popular terms, FOX was what young Americans referred to as a typical "good guy LZ."
Such shameless tactics also earned FOX "immoral television network," "R-rated network," "not suitable for minors network" and other honorary titles in the United States. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
And now, the late-night throne had changed hands, with a new king standing atop the old one’s bones?
Moreover, BT Television seemed to operate with a completely different style. FOX’s policy was to show young people whatever they wanted, such as dating, going to bed, kissing, and so on.
In contrast, BT focused more on voyeurism and the fantasies of young people. The two female leads in "Wife Swap Game" might be black and white biracial, but their figures and looks were attractive enough to fulfill many young people’s fantasies about mature women, making it easier for them to daydream about what could happen if such a mature beauty moved into their home.
"All-Around Gun Modding King," a late-night science program, surprisingly rated higher than FOX’s "Temptation Love Test," which aimed to educate young people about relationships. This surprised many and also caused great annoyance. They lamented why they hadn’t thought of creating a show that promoted young people’s ability to handle firearms.
Most importantly, BT Television’s two late-night programs didn’t violate any regulations, unlike FOX, which had to regularly pay fines. BT’s shows had no nudity and no negative tendencies. If any viewers felt these programs had negative tendencies, BT had a thousand reasons to tell them it was their own wild imagination. The original intentions of producing both shows were very pure.
"Wife Swap Game" was just a normal family reality show, which showcased different family lives with the appearance of a new mom.
"All-Around Gun Modding King" claimed to help improve family self-defense, bringing in firearms experts to demonstrate how to enhance the power of common, outdated guns, so that housewives and the elderly could feel safer when home alone.
It was well known around the world that housewives and the elderly were unlikely to wake up in the middle of the night to watch such an educational program. It was essentially a small weapons class for young people, with the added bonus of collecting advertising fees from arms dealers or gun stores.
