Max got plenty of afterglow from the big “Hacks” best comedy Emmy win this fall, but series producer Universal TV would appreciate some of that halo too. “Ted Lasso” is Apple TV+’s biggest hit, but give some credit to the company behind the show, Warner Bros. TV. And yes, “The Boys” was a game changer for Amazon Prime Video, but Sony Pictures TV is making sure you know that’s actually a Sony property.
TV studios are flexing their brand muscle more than ever in the streaming age. Studios have been more aggressive in getting their names out there and making sure viewers learn which company is actually producing their favorite series.
Most programs now kick off with a vanity card announcing the production company at the start of each episode. That messaging — like “A Sony Pictures Television Studios Production” or “A Warner Bros. Television Production” — used to appear at the very end of an episode, after the credits.
“Movies have done this for years,” notes CBS marketing chief Mike Benson, who worked closely with CBS Studios head David Stapf to include branding at the start of the studio’s productions. “A lot of what we had to go through is really educating people on the why. So whether it is a CBS Media Ventures show and if it’s distributed on a Fox station in a different market, or it’s a CBS Studios show that’s distributed on Netflix or Amazon, we want that representation. There wasn’t a ton of pushback from the other platforms, once they understood what we were doing, from a B2B perspective, with the integration of the messaging and the vanity cards.”
Studios have also been more actively campaigning for their shows at the Emmys, and creating pop-up events touting their series at consumer events like San Diego Comic-Con — sometimes in tandem with the network or streamer that airs their show, but sometimes completely on their own. Sony, for example, has created multiple brand extensions for “The Boys” over the show’s four seasons — including a “Vought-a-Burger” popup last year in West Hollywood.
That messaging strategy has even made it to entertainment journalism. In recent years, studios have more frequently asked that their company names be included in news stories about TV shows — alongside the name of the network or streamer that runs them. They’re even pushing reporters to include more detailed corporate structure in the language: It’s not enough to say “Universal Television” or “20th Television” — the studios would prefer you write “Universal Television, a part of Universal Studio Group” or “20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.”
During most of television history, studios were fine to stand in the background while the networks got all the credit. “MAS*H” was a CBS show, and that credit rarely extended to the studio that produced the legendary series, 20th Century Fox TV. “ER” and “Friends” were part of NBC’s “Must- See TV” lineup, but only lately has Warner Bros. TV reclaimed brand ownership of those hits.
There’s a reason brand attribution didn’t bother the studios much back in the day: Sure, they didn’t get the credit, but they got what really mattered: syndication back end.
But these are very different times. Syndication is no longer the end game, and studios have realized they need much more of a say over how a show is exploited in the long tail.
“We want our shows to succeed. What’s evolved is we are now truly multi-platform marketers,” Benson says.
One studio exec notes that this new wave of attribution came after cable networks and streamers started more aggressively branding their shows with opening salvos like “A Netflix Original” — something even the linear networks started emulating. There’s nothing wrong with that, as they brand the shows they run in order to drive subscriptions. That’s when studios felt that they, too, needed to get in on the action.
“We do produce it, and we do ultimately own it downstream,” the studio exec says. “You want the network or the platform to want to claim your show, They are the people who gave you the money to make it and who are tell the world about your show. So they deserve the spotlight. But I don’t think that’s at the cost of the studio having a place in that story.”
Studios also have a vested interest, of course, in keeping their shows alive — even on their sister streamers or networks. That’s why studios have been spending more money on their own awards FYC events, and making sure they supplement whatever marketing the streamer or network is doing.
And in this competitive environment, they also want to ensure that talent sees who they’re in business with. That’s why it’s become a priority for studios to get their names in stories, their executives at industry events and attribution for all those awards. As linear goes away and studios become “arms dealers,” as industry execs describe it for various streaming platforms, there’s a strategy to making sure they’re in the conversation.
“We want to make sure when buyers are looking for something specific, they’re going to think of us,” says one exec. “That’s what we try to get into the narrative, and we do that through traditional marketing tools like social media, sponsorships and branding. And we use award season a lot to drive it home and tie those titles back to our brand. The key is, in this crowded marketplace — and as you see a contraction in the industry that you’re trying to define yourself out there as a seller of content — you want them to know who you’re in business with.”
