The closest I ever came to a shark (outside of the Norwalk, Connecticut Aquarium) happened many summers ago while boogie-boarding off Asparagus Beach in Amagansett, New York. (By the way, the oddly named, “Asparagus Beach”, comes from the fact that many sun worshipers just stand around — like upright asparagus stalks — checking out everyone else.) Anyway, I had just caught a long, slow Atlantic roller when all of a sudden a very large and very sharp dorsal fin broke the water.

I didn’t think twice.

It was “devil take the hindmost” as I kicked and paddled for all I was worth until finally reaching the safety of the beach. I frantically ran up to my older brother and gasped, “Did you see that shark… how big was it?” He looked at me in utter amazement and then blurted out, “Get a life… that’s a dolphin and it has been frolicking out there all day long.”

So much for “Brotherly Love” (and my “shark encounter”)… and so much for what the 1975 movie, “Jaws”, did to the nerves of this ocean-going swimmer. I’ve always suspected that, between Steven Spielberg’s edge-of-your-seat movie, and a touch of morbid curiosity, Discovery Channel tapped into our deep-seated primordial fears, holding millions of viewers spell-bound by their annual “Shark Week” Special – now in its 28^th edition!

I suppose there’s also the “educational” aspect to “Shark Week” – but whatever the case may be, this mega-franchise just keeps swimming along. (I had to say that.) And although 2014 ratings and shares were down from the prior year, they were still higher than the preceding two (2011 and 2012.) And whether viewership is up or down, there’s nothing quite like this annual event that takes the viewer oh-so close to the real thing:

Homes with Children & High Income

We looked at Acxiom PersonicX Clusters for the 2014 edition of “Shark Week” to get a sense of the typical household that tunes into this annual, week-long summer event.

In a nut-shell, PersonicX is a household-level consumer segmentation analysis that divides practically every home in America into one of seventy unique clusters across an array of demographic, behavior-graphic and lifestyle characteristics. By matching the unique characteristics of PersonicX clusters to their set-top-box panel homes, Rentrak has created PersonicX HH ratings for all the programs they measure.

As can be seen in the chart below, 18 (out of 70 PersonicX) clusters have an index of 125 or higher. And out of these 18 clusters, all but three represent homes with kids. Moreover, these are upscale homes with significantly higher than average incomes, including the #1, #4 and #5 highest earning household clusters (i.e., “Summit Estates”, “Skyboxes & Suburbans” and “Lavish Lifestyles”):

Local Cable Advertising Demand

There are a select few iconic cable events that elicit near-universal recognition amongst our local cable clients – and “Shark Week” is certainly one of them. That is why there has been such broad support for this annual week-long event. Last year (2014), for example, nearly 1,000 advertisers across 65 Viamedia markets ordered over 27,000 spots. That comes to 28 spots per client.

And when we confine our analysis to the 51 Viamedia markets that exhibited advertising in “Shark Week” over the past two years, we find a growth rate of 30% driven by both an increase in the number of commercials and 30-second unit pricing:

1)      23% rise in the number of 30-second units;

2)         6% rise in unit pricing;

3)         1% rise due to the multiplicative effect of units sold and pricing.

Source: Viamedia internal analysis of B.I.G.^SM    database (Sports & High Profile Tracker module) across the 51 markets that exhibited local cable advertising on “Shark Week” for the past two years 2013 and 2014. Copyright © 2015 by Viamedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Importantly, the overall 30% growth rate has been driven by several Viamedia markets; indeed, 75% of them exhibited higher levels of advertising, while only 25% were lower:

Lastly, Viamedia clients have shown a continued commitment to “Shark Week” given that over 300 of them have invested in the summertime event for the past two years, collectively raising their advertising commitment 28%. 

Local Cable Advertising Categories

As we have seen with many high profile programming events, the local automotive category captures the lion’s share of advertising (34%). What is, perhaps, different about “Shark Week” is the (relatively) high level of Political investment (10%), as well as the spread of investments over so many other categories – six by our count that capture at least a 4% share of dollars:

New Start Date     

It has been a tradition that “Shark Week” airs in the month of August – a natural tie-in with the sheer number of summer vacationers at the shore. But the brain trust at Discovery Channel has changed things up this year by launching “Shark Week” for the first time ever during the July 4th Weekend.

Also new this season: Discovery Channel is coming back in August with an additional weekend of shark-themed programming, making 2015 the “Summer of the Shark”.  More hours; new shark technology; a first-time visit to Cuba and new sequels to some of their most famous shows of the past.

And, so, as you stroll along the beach this summer; take a dip in the ocean; or simply cast a line into the water… always remember Discovery Channel’s cautionary advice:

“Be careful what you fish for.”

For more information on Viamedia, visit www.viamediatv.com.

– Written by Jonathan Sims, VP Media Research, Viamedia