Cecile Frot-Coutaz

American Idol is the quintessential tentpole program. It took the country by storm, sparking “water-cooler” debates across the nation, becoming FOX’s highest-rated show and propelling the network to first place among the coveted 18-to-49 demographic. Cecile Frot-Coutaz, who is also the executive producer of American Idol, explains how the show has become a huge runaway hit.

FROT-COUTAZ: We didn’t really have expectations. We were confident that it was going to work. What we didn’t know is to what degree it was going to work. During the first season, it was probably the top-rated show that summer. Then FOX brought it back midseason for the following January. It’s really with the second season that it took off in the way we know it. It became more than just a TV show—it became a pop-cultural phenomenon. There wasn’t one person who wasn’t talking about it and there was a huge buzz. We were still surprised in the third season when the numbers went up, and we were even more surprised in the fourth season when it was still going up.

FROT-COUTAZ:Every year there are little tweaks that we do just as a matter of course. Routinely we’ve made some slightly bigger changes. For example, in season four we introduced the boy-girl competition and changed the middle round, which was a pretty big format change. In season two, we went to top 12. It’s a very collaborative process. FOX is a great partner because they’re willing to try new things.

FROT-COUTAZ:At the root of the show people want to see great kids. Our job year after year is to make sure that we deliver a great top 12—kids with great personalities that have interesting voices and above all that people will care about. And it’s finding that magical combination of somebody who’s good and interesting and that you’ll care about. That’s always the tricky part. Somebody can be a great singer but if the audience is not going to care about him, he probably won’t last on the show.

FROT-COUTAZ: The CD was always part of the premise. And that’s why the show works so well. I have a theory that the shows that work the best in the unscripted field are the ones where the objectives of the show are aligned with the objectives of the contestants and where the outcome is incredibly real. That’s why Idol is so big; because ultimately you’re looking for a true star, and the kids want to become true stars and we deliver on that promise. The outcome reinforces the premise, and that’s incredibly powerful. Very few unscripted shows do that. All of them are entertaining and fun to watch, which is great, but very few have fallen into the Idol category. So the CD was always part of the premise of the show.

Then we developed merchandising and mobile games and all sorts of things. The reality of all those extensions started quite early in the life cycle of the show. The big ones started a bit later because to get the right partners on board you need to have a track record. It’s always best to wait a season or two until your show is really established and you really understand what the show is about and what the brand values are and then you get the right partners on board. Because on Idol it’s obviously not about volume, it’s about doing things that will be good for the brand.

FROT-COUTAZ: Our team looks at Idol and says, “What are the brand attributes of Idol?” It’s inspirational, it’s something the family can experience together, it’s about fame, it’s about making your dreams come true. You break it down, and from that you try to find partners that will be able to transmit those brand values into whatever their area is. So we work very closely with the licensees of the brand just to make sure it happens in the right way. It’s incredibly detrimental if something [goes against the brand.]

FROT-COUTAZ: Yes, I think there are some brands that lend themselves better. Idol obviously does because of the music component. And because it’s a huge phenomenon and has a big community of people who are fans of the show, there are a lot of community-based things that you can do with it that have brand equity. Games are also great for brand extensions; they’re a natural to it.

FROT-COUTAZ: Yes, you want to make a connection with the fans and keep that connection going when the show is not on the air. Because we’re only on the air from January to the end of May and then we’re off the air for the rest of the year. So things like the tour, the PlayStation game, which is incredibly successful, all those extensions really help reinforce the brand when it’s not on the air. Now that we have the Disney partnership as well—there’s going to be “The American Idol Experience” attraction at Walt Disney World [Resort].

FROT-COUTAZ: It’s a funny show. It’s been very successful for us around the world. That’s another show that potentially has a lot of nice extensions to it. For the most part, you need to have a successful television show for it to be able to develop into a meaningful business. We find with some classic game-show brands that we have a successful extension business even if the brand is not on the air.

FROT-COUTAZ: There are a couple of new shows that are in preproduction. One is called The Phone, which we’re making for MTV and co-producing with Justin Timberlake. It’s a very interesting format. When I first saw it, it reminded me of the Matt Damon film The Bourne Identity. It had that kind of feel. It features two contestants who have to find clues in a city, playing a game for a cash prize. It starts with a cell phone ringing. So for instance, you’re having breakfast or lunch with a friend of yours and the telephone rings and you pick it up and this mastermind tells you if you want to win $100,000 you have to go to the train station in eight minutes and find your next clue. When you get there, you find your [friend] who then becomes your opponent in the show. It’s filmed like The Bourne Identity with an adventure/fantasy feel and looks very much like the TV series 24. It’s a very exciting show with great [opportunities for] integration with phone partners. We have a car partner, as well.

We are also doing a new variety show with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne on FOX, which will be a really big show for us. We’re hoping we can bring variety back to the marketplace.

WS: When you’re developing these shows, do the brand extensions come into the picture during the creative process, or is the goal at first to create a really great show?

FROT-COUTAZ: The show has got to sell. The show always, always comes first. If you don’t have a good show you have nothing. Having said that, more and more, once we know we have something strong and we’re ready to go and pitch the networks, we usually bring in our licensing team and start to involve them in the development process. The earlier they know about it, the earlier they can start thinking not only about the applications, but also what they can bring to the development that will give the show more of the 360-degree aspect that we’re looking for. Increasingly, we try and do this as early as possible.

FROT-COUTAZ: The development process, actually. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, and then over the course of the year seeing a show get made is incredibly exciting. Add on to that something like Idol, which is a phenomenon, and you get to sit down with your colleagues and say, What can we do to make it a bit different? And you start implementing some of those ideas and get people excited about them—it’s great.