'Star Trek' Is a Success For G4

How to market a 40-year-old series to a target audience of 18-34 year olds? That was the task of Neal Tiles when he became president of the G4 cable network president, resulting in an interactive version of the original Star Trek that is now the network's top-rated show.

"We did a rather unique take on the classic Star Trek and created this interactive overlay," Tiles explained to Broadcasting & Cable. By adding screens with Star Trek statistics and trivia and a web site where fans could leave comments that might later scroll across the screen, he attracted many of the network's more than 55 million subscribers - an audience largely comprised of young male gamers.

"It was a very limited-appeal channel with no ratings," said Comcast's Jeff Schell. "We've had very strong success in kick-starting the ratings...they've really made G4 a cross-platform kind of brand."

For nearly a year, G4 has sustained steady gains in its viewership. The network now produces podcasts and provides video-on-demand on its web site and Comcast's On Demand feature. 1.3 million viewers have watched promotional spots for Star Trek 2.0 on video site YouTube.

For more on G4's success, the original article is here.

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