Seeso head Evan Shapiro: ‘Our real, measurable goal: better laughter'
For a long time, Americans associated Thursday nights on NBC with its slogan, “Must See TV.” And it really was: Friends and Seinfeld, and later, The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation.
Among networks – both basic and cable – NBC has done comedy better than others. That reality has changed with the competition it faces for quality programming and the fragmentation of audiences. Audience fragmentation, though, is an opportunity for networks to appeal to niches, and that is exactly what NBC is trying to do with its forthcoming streaming network Seeso.
The ad-free, $3.99-per-month, Seeso is designed for comedy nerds. In addition to entire series’ of The Office and Parks and Recreation, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and all late night shows, Seeso will produce original content from Dan Harmon (Community), Upright Citizens Brigade, and Wyatt Cenac, among others. In all, 20 exclusive, original series will be featured in the first year.
Ahead of the platform’s launch in January, we spoke with Seeso “showrunner” Evan Shapiro, Exeutive Vice President of NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises:
Found Remote: How you will determine whether Seeso is a success?
Evan Shapiro: If my mother understands what I do for a living, then I’ll take it as a win. Beyond that…
Obviously Seeso will be measured by the number of subscribers, however, we believe that our key performance indicator is actually the quality of laughter we provide our members.
This is our real, measurable goal: better laughter. It’s a combination of the time to view (the lower the better); the length of viewing (the longer the better); the number of episodes watched (the more the better); the number of visits (keep them coming back); and the number of shares for each piece of content, multiplied by each subscriber. We will measure this daily, weekly and monthly. This speaks to our desire to put the audience at the center of everything we do.
FR: NBC already has a strong partnership with Hulu, and has invested a lot into NBC.com and a host of TV Everywhere apps. Why create a separate service rather than integrate it into existing products?
Shapiro: While Seeso is internet-delivered streaming, it’s not a product. It is a channel. The programming is meant to appeal to a unique audience who we feel are not being served by existing platforms: comedy nerds. It’s a stand-alone comedy channel, with a particular voice and point of view. 20 years ago, we might’ve launched a cable channel to serve this audience. Today, that would not be a wise choice, given how this audience consumes content. So we’re launching a streaming channel, that the nerds can get anywhere, anytime. You have to credit NBCU and Comcast for understanding this, and taking the leap to make it possible.
FR: Why is NBC so confident that people will pay even the small $3.99 fee for another service?
Shapiro: We prefer ‘cautiously optimistic.’ We didn’t enter into this blindly. We’ve interviewed more than 10,000 potential subscribers, tested the concept, tested a wide array of prices, and asked a gauntlet of questions about how people consume content. We’ve used this data to develop a detailed profile of the next generation of viewers, and we designed the channel for uber-viewers, or, as I like to say, “viewsers.” The response to the concept, at this price, was, as the researchers say, significant. The most likely Seeso members call the price a ‘no brainer’. Jeez, I really hope they weren’t lying.
FR: Seeso has been stressing "ad free" as part of its initial marketing communications. Why is ad free so important? Like Hulu, are you considering a free, ad-supported Seeso?
Shapiro: IMO online video has come to a fork in the road – free ad-supported, OR ad-free subscription. Our team believes that short-form content is going down the former path and long-form down the latter. Neither is better, they’re just different. Seeso is not web videos, it is long-form comedy. So, we’re taking the fork to the left.