Spike seeks to lure female viewers

By David Bauder

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

With this week’s premiere of a series based on Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight” show feature of lip sync-dueling celebrities, the Spike television network is throwing open the door of its boys’ clubhouse to women.

Spike began 12 years ago with a laser-sharp focus of building an audience of young men, either in college or just out, and wound up doing it too well. And that’s not as wise of a business plan as it used to be.

The effort at broadening Spike’s audience began subtly a few years ago and is now more overt. Spike just introduced a new logo designed to seem softer, a tagline — “the ones to watch” — aimed at a general audience and a show such as “Lip Sync Battle” designed to be enjoyed by everyone. Back-to-back episodes of the show air starting at 10 tonight.

The young male focus was smart when Viacom converted the Nashville Network to Spike. It was considered such a tough demographic to reach that advertisers paid a premium to put their commercials on shows and networks that succeeded.

A Spike show called “Deadliest Warrior” was the first indication that something was amiss. The testosterone-fueled series pit creatures such as vampires and zombies, or historical figures including Saddam Hussein and Pol Pot, against each other in mythical battles. The numbers showed four out of five viewers were guys, with a median age of 22.

That was too much. Spike needed to make changes to even things out a little, said Kevin Kay, Spike president.

“We never want to lose the guys that we’ve had all these years,” Kay said. “We want to keep them. We just want to add their friends and their girlfriends to watch with them.”

Advertisers still seek young men. But this group is abandoning live television so quickly that basing a network on reaching them is a dangerous strategy.

“Deadliest Warrior” isn’t around anymore. The tattoo artist show “Ink Master” has become one of Spike’s most successful shows, and pulls in women along with men.

“Bar Rescue,” soon to sprout a spinoff, is enjoyed by men for its details on how to run a bar and mix drinks, and by women for the frequent family dramas involved in trying to turn around a failing tavern business, Kay said.