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I’ve always admired dance for its magical blending of art and athleticism, and it would be uplifting to write about Lifetime’s hit series, “Dance Moms”, in that context.

But for better (or worse), Dance Moms goes way beyond both ‘art’ and ‘athleticism’, adding large doses of:

1)      Intense competition;

2)      Reality-based docudrama (with an emphasis on the “drama”); and,

3)      Last — but hardly least — helicopter parents, hence the title of the show.

If it were just a matter of keeping her young girls in line as they pursue their dream of becoming stage and theatre dance stars… well, then, things would be pretty tame (and make for rather dull television entertainment.)

But Abby Lee has more than just her young girls to consider. She also has to keep in line all of their mothers (some of whom were once Abby’s dance students) as they live vicariously through the dance aspirations of their young daughters.

Lifetime has hit upon an “entertainment formula” as young girls (and their moms) take center stage in the stress-filled world of competitive dance. And despite the sheer number of original episodes that have aired over the past two seasons (39 in 2013 & 34 in 2014), this show has delivered consistently high ratings and shares for the network:

_{Source: Viamedia analysis of Rentrak TV Essentials Data (Telecast Summary Report) for Lifetime’s “Dance Moms” for Season 3 (39 episodes January 1st – September 17th, 2013) & Season 4 (34 episodes January 1st – October 14th, 2014). Ratings and shares are Viamedia time-duration weighted estimates for new “Dance Moms” airings only (no repeats). Ratings & Shares are Live-only.}

Upscale Families

Just who are the viewers attracted to a show that mixes a hyper-competitive dance setting with tough love and over-involved parents?

To answer that question we analyzed Dance Moms based upon Acxiom’s PersonicX Clusters that Rentrak has overlaid on its set-top-box data.

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.

Like many popular segmentation studies, PersonicX has created catchy names for each of their 70 clusters. And when we looked at the clusters with the highest ratings Index for “Dance Moms” (150 or higher), we found a very strong skew toward upscale families with school-age kids:

_{Source: Viamedia analysis of Rentrak TV Essentials Data (Telecast Series Demographics – Acxiom PersonicX Clusters) for Lifetime’s “Dance Moms” across the 4 Live-Only new episodes that aired in January, 2014 (Season 4).}

Local Ad Demand

In terms of local advertising support for the show, we looked across the 28 markets in which advertisers invested in Dance Moms over the past two seasons and found an overall growth rate of 9% — all of which is attributable to an increase in average unit pricing. And over the past two seasons, nearly 200 advertisers from 45 different markets have run (collectively) +2,300  :30-second spots.

What really stands out about Dance Moms is the unusually high demand for tune-in advertising by competing cable networks. An astounding 64% of all local cable ad revenues are from the tune-in category, which is about double the average percentage for high profile cable shows we’ve written about. And with nearly two-thirds of dollars devoted to tune-in, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for other categories, with automotive (8%), retail/department stores (6%) and medical/health care (4%) trailing far behind:

_{Source: Viamedia analysis of B.I.G. internal database (“Sports & High Profile Tracker”) for any and all local cable advertisers who invested in Lifetime’s “Dance Moms” for Season  3 (January – September, 2013)  & Season 4 (January – October, 2014) across any and all markets.}

On to Season 5

What happens when a local Pittsburgh dance studio becomes a major cable television hit?

Well, Season 4 began (1/1/2014) with the announcement that nation-wide auditions would be held and that – with the threat of new talent entering the Abby Lee Dance Company – no one’s place on the dance team would be guaranteed.

And how did Season 4 end (10/14/2014)?

Yep… you guessed it. A major brouhaha between frustrated moms and the imperious Abby Lee, with accusations flying back and forth, hot and heavy. All of which is a rather fine set-up for Season 5, which just premiered (January 6^th, 2015).

Let the tears and fears begin… one dance step at a time.

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

– Written by Jonathan Sims, VP Media Research, Viamedia