When Richard Licata joined Showtime Networks two years ago, he felt there was a perception in the marketplace that Showtime wasn’t a destination network. With a background in pioneering the publicity and marketing efforts of HBO and Fox Networks, the executive vice president of corporate communications knew Showtime had a number of solid building blocks on which he could start refocusing a series-driven, promotional approach to the network.

Richard Licata

Television tapestry
There has been a shift in the way Showtime is being programmed, according to Licata. The network is taking a series-based approach after years of producing mostly original movies. “When you’re dealing with a series, you can build a brand much more easily. With shows such as The L Word, Weeds, Huff, and Sleeper Cell, our popularity and profile are growing at a faster rate.”

Showtime’s main initiatives have been to launch several new series and successfully re-launch series that are entering their second, third, or fourth seasons. In January, the third season of The L Word debuted, and the series increased its viewership by 50%, which is unusual in the television industry. “It’s about being creative and reinventing the way you promote the shows every season. It gets more difficult as each year passes, but The L Word just found a new audience,” Licata said.

“We encored the second season in December leading into the launch of the third season in January. People realized the terrific writing and the soap-opera quality of the show, so when the third season started, they jumped on board. It’s been gratifying for us.”

The network has a new series premiering in early July called Brotherhood. It is a dark drama series set in Providence, RI about two brothers—one a career criminal, the other a well-intended but backroom-dealing local politician. In April, Huff returns for a second season, and it has been extremely successful for the network. It received seven Emmy nominations last year.

Showtime is also producing a vigilante-themed drama series called Dexter starring Michael C. Hall. He plays a forensic detective with the Miami police department who moonlights as a serial killer with his own brand of justice— ending the lives of criminals who slip through the cracks of justice. “All of these shows are part of the tapestry that ultimately builds what a network is about and defines it for an audience,” said Licata.

Series exposure
It’s a challenge to attract people who are wedded to commercial television, explained Licata. “Our answer for that is to expose them to a series,” he said. “After they see some of our programming, they notice a different kind of television. People are definitely paying for something they aren’t getting elsewhere on television.”
That’s not to say extraordinary television cannot be found on the commercial networks and basic cable, he explained, but things are done differently at Showtime. “There is material we can tackle that other networks can’t,” he said.

For instance, Weeds is a story about a young widow who sells marijuana to make ends meet. “The show isn’t about anything out of the ordinary; it’s about a woman trying to find herself after her husband dies unexpectedly. But her path to self-discovery is unconventional—she sells pot, and that theme would never work on commercial television,” he explained.

Showtime tries to expose as many people as possible to its programming with major media outreaches: review campaigns, feature story placement, and executive interviews talking about the direction of the company to promote its shows. “Third-party endorsements by producers, directors, and talent who come to Showtime to realize their creative visions are invaluable to Showtime’s image in the community and ultimately to consumers.”

Seeking votes
Showtime is aggressively pursuing both the Golden Globe Awards and the Primetime Emmys, and Licata presides over both campaigns for the network, among others. This year, Showtime did something unprecedented in the television business and in TV Academy history—Licata sent out a customized Emmy box of its series programming in January, five months before the June balloting period.

Typically, all the networks do this in May, and four weeks later, everyone votes. “It’s too much work for people to watch all of the programming they receive, so I figured I’d let them have five months to watch the episodes and acquaint themselves with the characters and the quality.”

“I wanted the 12,000 members of the television academy to truly sample what our programming was about. I included the entire season of Weeds, the complete mini-series Sleeper Cell, and the first six episodes of the new season of Huff and The L Word,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll spread the Showtime brand even more this year.”