The Challenge: Loyal late night viewers of this daytime kids cable channel relished reruns of popular sitcoms like “All In The Family” and “The Cosby Show.” This cable channel’s programmers wanted to expand the repertoire, but were wary of disrupting the already loyal “couch potatoes” (their terminology).

Our Findings: We resonated 750 late-night viewers on their experiences watching this channel. Their loyalty was even greater than expected, and was fueled not so much by the content as by the experience of “self care” and “having ‘me time’’ away from my kids, spouse, job, etc.” They gladly traded hours of sleep for this intense personal gratification.

Our Strategy: We urged the client to schedule content that would promote viewers’ intense personal gratification. For example, by choosing classic, beloved programs with very familiar characters regardless of genre.

The Results: Two decades of consistent high ratings and ad revenues in after-midnight time slots, based on commanding a large and loyal grown-up audience.