Andrea Wong

In its 25th year, Lifetime Television is more than just another cable channel that targets women—it is a destination that provides female viewers entertainment, escape and a community. Launched in February 1984, it has since become the top-rated channel for women. Its parent company also operates Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women, HD channels and on-demand services, as well the thriving and growing Lifetime Digital. Much of this expansion has been fostered by Andrea Wong, who became president and CEO in April of 2007. Under her leadership, Lifetime Television has enjoyed the highest-rated series in its 25-year history (Army Wives) and its most-watched Lifetime Original Movie in 13 years (The Memory Keeper’s Daughter), while Lifetime Movie Network has boasted its highest-rated program since launching in 1998 (The Capture of the Green River Killer). Wong talks about the growth she sees ahead for Lifetime Networks.

WS: When you joined Lifetime, what strengths did you see that you wanted to build on?
WONG: The first and most obvious strength was the deep, deep resonance of the Lifetime brand among women and the tremendous amount of goodwill toward it. Women love Lifetime. And the second great strength was that we had not just one strong cable network in Lifetime, but we also had Lifetime Movie Network, and then we had Lifetime Real Women and we were just beginning to build Lifetime Digital. So we had the foundations to grow. Most people are unaware of how strong Lifetime Movie Network is as an asset. So I looked at it and said, we have this 58-million sub network [currently in 67 million homes] and there is a tremendous amount of potential there.

WS: What did you see that you might want to improve?
WONG: A number of things. One was taking the Lifetime brand, which was incredibly powerful, and making it even more relevant, making it aspirational, optimistic, energetic, fun and, most of all, contemporary. And then aggressively driving the brand across multiple platforms through our programming, our marketing, our digital content and our advocacy efforts.

WS: Movies have been a staple for Lifetime from the very beginning. How have you revamped the movie offering?
WONG: When I got to Lifetime, we were making 60 movies per year—a tremendous amount of movies—and their budgets were low. What I wanted to do was make less movies, put more money into them and broaden the range of them, because one of the problems was that we were making the same kind of movie over and over and over again. So we reduced the number of movies we were making. We now make about 30 to 35 a year, and they range from true stories like Coco Chanel or Living Proof to events based on books, like The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, which was the biggest movie of last year, to fun escapist movies, like the Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal, which is also a true story. Later we had important ones like Queen Sized. We also brought in some great talent like Shirley MacLaine, who played Coco Chanel [and was nominated for a Golden Globe]. The cast of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was incredible, with Gretchen Mol and Emily Watson and Dermot Mulroney. Renée Zellweger executive produced Living Proof with Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, and Harry Connick Jr. starred in that movie. It was a marquee tentpole event for Lifetime.

WS: Beyond Army Wives, how important are original scripted series to Lifetime?
WONG: Very important. They are brand definers. Army Wives certainly is a great calling card for Lifetime and is exactly what the brand is all about. It’s a really high-quality show. It taps into those issues and emotions that are resonant to women: a woman struggling with whether she should go back to work or not, a mom who is dealing with raising her kids and trying to work at the same time, a woman who is very senior on the military post who gets pregnant and can’t figure out how to manage that situation.

We launched a comedy called Rita Rocks in October. It’s a great success and we just picked up the back seven episodes of that series. We hope that show will be a great brand definer for us. It also represents our viewer and what this network is about. It’s a comedic take on a woman, who, just like a woman who watches Lifetime, is pulled in 500 different directions, raising her kids, working, trying to be a good wife and just wanting that spare moment for herself. 

WS: What elements do you look for in a format or reality show that make you think this is a show that would work for Lifetime?
WONG: I’ve always developed alternative series this way: you look at the best ones that tap into themes and emotions that are resonant or provocative with your audience. How to Look Good Naked is a classic example of a series that is a good idea for Lifetime because it taps into those things. The challenge at Lifetime, though, with unscripted series, is that they are harder to launch because they are not necessarily part of the brand expectation. When you think of Lifetime, you automatically think movies or really good series. So we are now trying to build a beachhead in reality or unscripted series so that women come to expect them from Lifetime. For example, we just brought Wife Swap to Life­time. That was an acquisition and it’s doing great for us. We have it running for two hours during the daytime and on Tuesday nights. We’ll start to use Wife Swap as a launchpad for new series.

We launched a show in January called Diet Tribe. It’s about a group of women who are friends and all really want to lose weight. They support each other as they work with a trainer and a nutritionist and try to lose that weight. It’s something that clearly is relatable and resonant with women, particularly coming out of the holidays.

WS: Tell us about Lifetime Digital.
WONG: It’s so exciting because we have such a unique opportunity. If the Lifetime brand means something to women, it means escape. On television, it’s that half-hour or one-hour or two-hour escape when a woman can just sit on the sofa and relax and watch a series or a movie. In the digital space, it’s that time when she can get on a computer and escape, whether it’s playing a game or coming to an online community, or watching a clip or a webisode. There is tremendous opportunity beyond just mylifetime.com being a streaming site.

We made our first-ever digital acquisition earlier this year. We bought a company called ParentsClick, located in San Francisco. It’s an online community for parents, which we are evolving and growing. And we will take that community application, that technology, and [adapt] it for Army Wives, for breast-cancer survivors, for a number of other communities of women, or communities that women would seek out.

We also acquired a game company in Korea called Roiworld, and we’ve launched the Lifetime Game Studios in Korea. It’s really exciting because Roiworld is the leading teen site in South Korea; they have about a thousand dress-up games. We are going to launch Roiworld in the U.S., and I think there is tremendous growth there also.

WS: Between the linear channels and the websites, what does Lifetime offer advertisers?
WONG: First of all, we’re the number one and number two cable networks for women, so in terms of reach of women, we’re a great vehicle. And when you look at the multiplatform approach, we’re the one brand that reaches women with the same brand across all platforms—that can drive women back and forth between mylifetime.com and back to Army Wives and then to the movie on Lifetime Movie Network. So nobody else can offer that.

WS: Are you finding advertisers are a little reluctant to move to the online world?
WONG: Everyone is dipping their toe in and trying to figure out what the most effective use of their dollars is. We are trying to show them that online is a great way to sell their products. For example, we have a number of promotions on mylifetime.com that work for advertisers.
I’ll give you a great cross-platform example: When an advertiser comes in to Lifetime and attaches himself to one of our advocacy platforms, like breast-cancer awareness or heart health or Every Woman Counts, they are involved in all elements of that [campaign]. So they end up being a part of advocacy, part of a program like Living Proof, which is the breast-cancer movie we did [last] year. They are on air and then they are also part of mylifetime.com and all the [activities] there. That’s a great 360-degree experience we can offer.

WS: Tell me about the pro-social initiatives and why they have been important.
WONG: They are so important because they are so deeply entrenched in our brand and what women come to expect. Women know that not only is Lifetime an escape, but that Lifetime is supporting them, looking out for them, and advocating on their behalf. And it’s hard because advocacy is not something that is quite as tangible or measurable in terms of its effect on the brand. But the fact that we have been doing this consistently for 25 years has really made a massive impact on the brand and differentiates us from any other network out there.