The Fine Art of Sitcom Promotion

As I’m sure you’re all aware, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, while their placement in the schedule inevitably pairs them up, are two entirely different shows. They each have their own humor, style, and audience. So, naturally, CBS is promoting them online in two completely different ways.

In the last 24 hours, nine videos from The Big Bang Theory have been uploaded to the CBS YouTube account. In that same time, only two HIMYM videos have gone up.

I haven’t watched all of the TBBT videos, but for the most part, they look like they’re just scenes from the show, with little to no editing, chosen to showcase what it’s all about and attract interest from potential new viewers. I don’t watch TBBT, but I enjoyed what I saw of the clips and left with a good impression of the show, so overall: Effective.

Now, take a moment to think about how you’d promote HIMYM if it were up to you. Think about it: It does very well with critics, but not as well as you’d want it to in the ratings. It should appeal to the audiences that love Friends and The Office, but it’s got a few things working against it. It’s the youngest-skewing show on an old-skewing network - too far from Two and a Half Men to draw in that audience, but still branded a CBS comedy, which doesn’t look good to the 30 Rock crowd. Also keeping young viewers away - the laugh track. HIMYM might not be a traditional, live-studio-audience sitcom, but it looks like one from a distance, and traditional sitcoms aren’t the draw they were ten years ago.

So obviously, if you’re promoting the show on YouTube, you’re going after a younger crowd. You’re going to want to emphasize the HIMYM brand of humor, make it clear that it’s not just lame jokes and a laugh track. Let’s see what CBS, marketing geniuses that they are, came up with, shall we?

We’ve got a misguided attempt to make fun of the laugh track that only makes the show look worse:

And we’ve got what looks like a “hey, the kids like that Borat guy, and he can’t speak English, right?” effort:

Attention, CBS: If the fans of the show can’t stand to sit through the promotion, you’re doing it wrong.