The Reality of Successful Brands

Jon Kramer, the chairman and CEO of Rive Gauche Television, talks to TV Real about the advantages of having strong brands to offer broadcasters.

The premiere of the fifth season of Operation Repo last week scored truTV’s largest audience ever for a series telecast, drawing in more than 2.2 million viewers. The show, which provides a real-life look at the world of repossession, ranked second in its time period among cable entertainment programs in delivery of viewers and households. "The success on truTV is amazing…. truTV has ordered 78 episodes of Operation Repo in a year’s time," says Jon Kramer, the chairman and CEO of Rive Gauche Television, which distributes Operation Repo.

The Dog Whisperer has been another success in the Rive Gauche portfolio. The series is now in its fifth season on National Geographic Channel in the U.S. and also airs around the world in territories such as Australia (Bio), pan-Latin America (Animal Planet), Italy (Nat Geo Wild), France (France 3) and Spain (Cuatro). Also in the diverse mix of programs Rive Gauche offers are Lisa Williams Live, Stupid Suspects and Sports Crash.

"We have a potpourri of shows," says Kramer about the range of genres in the company’s catalogue. "I don’t think that we’re known for any one thing in particular. We’re very good at branding. We try to take a look at the marketplace and listen to what our clients want and we try to find it one way or another."

The importance of building strong brands is something Kramer is quite keen to promote. "In this tough environment, [broadcasters] are looking for branding. They’re looking for shows that have been successful to continue with because 1) they build audience recognition and 2) these long-running series allow broadcasters to spend some promotional money on an ongoing [series] verses a one-off [program]. That for me has been the big trend." He adds, "From a supplier’s standpoint, it’s not so easy to create and find these long-running series. But Rive Gauche is lucky to have quite a few of them."

Another advantage Kramer sees for the company is its close relationships in working with clients. "Unlike a very large company, we have the time and the manpower to really work with our producers and the channels around the world to make the shows a success by providing marketing know-how and programming know-how."

Kramer, echoing the sentiments of many in the industry, is starting to see some improvement in the market. "What we’ve watched since October ’08 is a very cautious buying appetite. We started to see that open up this October. We’re confident that will continue through 2010 and 2011. At the end of the day, channels have to have new compelling programming. So we’ve positioned ourselves to be there for them, and have a lot of product to offer them."