Inbroadcast programming,counterprogramming is the practice of offeringtelevision programs to attract anaudience from anothertelevision station orcable channel airing a major event. It is also referred when programmers offer something different from the rival's program as an alternative to increase the audience size.[1]
TheSuper Bowl, being among the most watched television events in the United States, became a notable target of counterprogramming during the 1990s due to itsprevious halftime shows; which critics felt were dated and not representative of modernpop culture.[2] DuringSuper Bowl XXVI,Fox aired a live, football-themed episode ofIn Living Color against the halftime break, which featured football-themed sketches and an on-screen countdown clock to the start of the second half. The special was sponsored byFrito-Lay, who also announced the winner of a $1 million giveaway during the special. The special drew 22 million viewers, andNielsen estimated that CBS lost 10 ratings points during halftime as a result.[3][4]
The success of the special alarmed theNational Football League, who took steps to raise interest and viewership of the halftime show by inviting majorpop musicians to perform, beginning withMichael Jackson atSuper Bowl XXVII. This pattern continued until 2005, following anincident atSuper Bowl XXXVIII's halftime show whereJustin Timberlake exposed one ofJanet Jackson'sbreasts, leading to a string of halftime shows with a single, headliningclassic rock act (such asthe Rolling Stones,Prince, andBruce Springsteen) in an effort to prevent a repeat of the "wardrobe malfunction" (sinceSuper Bowl XLV, the NFL has returned to inviting pop artists to play halftime).[5][6] Despite Michael Jackson's performance helping to increase interest in subsequent halftime shows, Fox's success inspired imitators, and influenced other specials such asAnimal Planet's annualPuppy Bowl (featuring dogs playing in a model football stadium), and theLingerie Bowl, a series ofpay-per-view broadcasts of all-female football games played inlingerie—proving popular enough to be spun off into its ownLingerie Football League.[7]
Under an unsaidgentlemen's agreement, all four major networks (including CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC, who also alternate airing the Super Bowl on a yearly cycle) will typically not schedule any new programming (nor air counterprogramming) on the night of the Super Bowl.[5]NFL Network suspends programming during the Super Bowl in favor ofSuper Bowl Game Center, a static screen with the game's radio broadcast and a live scoreboard.[8] Fox provided an exception in 2010 when it aired two new episodes of'Til Death againstSuper Bowl XLIV; however, the network had been in the process ofburning off the low-rated sitcom in unusual timeslots (including a marathon of four new episodes on Christmas Day) soSony Pictures Television would haveenough episodes tosyndicate it.[9][10]
As to preempt the possibility that the2022 Winter Olympics would counterprogram the game, and to maximize advertising sales opportunities, CBS agreed to swapSuper Bowl LVI—which, for the first time, was scheduled during an ongoing Olympic Games—to NBC forSuper Bowl LV, so that both events were aired by the same network.[11][12] Furthermore, the structure of the rotation under the NFL's next round of television contracts (which expands it to all four major networks) deliberately gave NBC the Super Bowl games in subsequent Winter Olympic (2026,2030, and2034) years.[13][14]
One of the earliest prominent examples of counterprogramming inprofessional wrestling occurred in 1987, when theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) scheduled its newpay-per-view (PPV)Survivor Series onThanksgiving evening, going head-to-head withJim Crockett Promotions's (JCP)Starrcade, which was their flagship annual event. WWF ownerVince McMahon made carriage of the following year'sWrestleMania IV contingent on carrying Survivor Series; as a result, few cable companies elected to carry Starrcade. WWF would also air thefirst Royal Rumble event in January 1988 on the cable channelUSA Network against JCP'sBunkhouse Stampede PPV; Crockett would retaliate by scheduling thefirst Clash of the Champions onTBS against WrestleMania IV. The squabbling diluted the profits of the promotions and cable companies alike, leading to JCP's near-bankruptcy and eventual purchase by TBS ownerTed Turner, who reformed JCP intoWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW).[15][16] Due to the intervention of cable companies, WWF and WCW were not permitted to schedule major shows against each other. The only exception was when WCW scheduledClash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun againstWrestleMania V in April 1989 at the direct behest of the cable companies, who were locked in a dispute with McMahon regarding carriage fees; after the dispute was resolved, the cable companies allowed WCW to run Clash of the Champions on cable television.[17]
In 1995, WCW began to schedule a live, weekly show onTNT,Monday Nitro, to compete directly with the WWF's recently-launchedRaw on USA Network, resulting in an intense rivalry dubbed the "Monday Night War". Aided by WCW's popularNew World Order (nWo)stable featuringHulk Hogan (who had joined WCW in 1994 after leaving the WWF),[18]Nitro regularly beatRaw in viewership for 84 consecutive weeks.[19] In 1997, the WWF began to shift its programming in a mature direction dubbed the "Attitude Era" to compete with WCW. By April 1998, bolstered by the popularity of performers such asStone Cold Steve Austin, and Austin's in-universe feuds with McMahon,Raw began to overtakeNitro in viewership for the first time since 1996.[20][19][21]
AsRaw only aired live on occasion at the time, WCW commentators occasionally discussedRawspoilers on-air as a ploy to keep viewers from tuning away. This tactic infamously backfired during the January 4, 1999 episode ofNitro, when a spoiler thatMick Foley (who previously performed for WCW as Cactus Jack, and was performing in the WWF as Mankind) would win theWWF Championship had the opposite effect, causingNitro to lose around 600,000 viewers to the final hour ofRaw. TheNitro main event (featuring Hulk Hogan defeatingKevin Nash for theWCW World Heavyweight Championship) was also marred by its unusual build-up and controversial finish—dubbed the "Fingerpoke of Doom". The episode's events were retrospectively considered to be one of several missteps that led towards WCW's eventual demise, and the sale of its assets to WWF.[20][22][23][21]
For eight weeks beginning January 4, 2010, competing promotionTNA briefly moved its weekly programImpact! onSpiketo Monday nights, airing directly againstRaw. In response, WWE staged the return ofBret Hart, his first WWE appearance in over 12 years.[24] TNA lost two thirds of its audience during this time, before TNA moved back to Thursday, with presidentDixie Carter saying: “Our fans made it clear that they preferred the Thursday night time period. By moving to Thursdays, this is a win/win opportunity for both TNA and the fans. We are looking forward to delivering what the fans are asking for.”[25]
A renewed wrestling rivalry between TNT and USA dubbed the "Wednesday Night Wars" emerged in 2019, between WWE and the new promotionAll Elite Wrestling (AEW)—which has been seen as the first major promotion since WCW to compete financially with WWE.[26] TNT began to air AEW's first weekly program,Dynamite, on Wednesday nights beginning on October 2, 2019. On August 2, WWE announced that it would expandWWE NXT—a popularWWE Network program that focuses on adevelopmentalbrand of thesame name—to a two-hour format on USA Network beginning the same night; the expansionsoft-launched on September 18 with only the first hour airing on USA, to accommodate the final episodes ofSuits' final season. The decision was seen as a move to counterprogram the upstart AEW, and also came alongside USA losing WWE's second flagship programSmackDown toFox the same month.[27][28] Both AEW andNXT held two-week events on their July 1 and 8, 2020 episodes, with AEW holdingFyter Fest (which had originally been planned as a PPV), andNXT holdingThe Great American Bash (a former pay-per-view brand originating from WCW).[29] After regularly losing in the ratings toDynamite, WWE movedNXT to Tuesday nights beginning on April 13, 2021.[30]
Since 2021,Dynamite would only air head-to-head with WWE's television shows if either promotion was pre-empted by other events, most notably byTBS coverage of theMajor League Baseball postseason pre-emptingDynamite toa Tuesday airing in 2023 and 2024, and the2024 presidential election pre-emptingthat week'sNXT to Wednesday. WWE and AEW's television shows would directly compete in other circumstances, such as an extended edition of WWE'sSmackDown (which itself had been pre-empted from Fox toFS1 due toFox's own MLB postseason coverage) going head-to-head with AEW'sRampage in October 2021,[31] or AEW'sCollision sometimes going head-to-head with WWE PPVs on Saturday evenings.[32][33][34]
WWE would also take steps to counterprogram AEW's PPVs; WWE's scheduling of theClash at the Castle andWorlds Collide events in 2022 onLabor Day weekend, against AEW'sAll Out, led to an expletive-laden tirade from AEW ownerTony Khan that "he had a lot more fucking money thanJim Crockett did" and that he wouldn't "sit back and take this shit" going forward.[35] WWE scheduling ahouse show in the same city and on the same night as AEW'sWorlds End in December 2024 led to a change in AEW's strategy of event promotion in 2025.[36] The conflict intensified in 2025, when WWE scheduled its periodicNBC specialSaturday Night's Main Event and theNXT Battleground event in Tampa onMemorial Day weekend against AEW'sDouble or Nothing in Glendale, and scheduling both the NXT specialThe Great American Bash andSaturday Night's Main Event on July 12 against AEW'sAll In: Texas (which had been given a special 3:00 p.m. ET start time).[37] In response, Khan described WWE's strategy in 2025 as "the most consistent head-to-head scheduling since Jim Crockett Promotions", but again vowed that the conflict would end differently.[38][39]
In 2007, theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series'Auto Club 500 atAuto Club Speedway inFontana, California, was held on the same day as the79th Academy Awards, although it was held during the early afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. ET) start.[40] The2008 Auto Club 500 was plagued by rain delays and unintentionally aired against a portion of the80th Academy Awards; its start time was pushed back to around 3:00 p.m. PT (6:00 p.m. ET), while the race itself was halted again at around 6:00 p.m. PT (9:00 p.m. ET). In 2009, the race was intentionally scheduled with a 3:00 p.m. PT start, which would overlap into the telecast of the81st Academy Awards.Fox Sports' senior vice president of programming and research Bill Wanger supported the idea, believing that NASCAR races "[could] hold their own against any competition", arguing that the Oscars and the race appealed primarily to female and male audiences respectively.[41][42] For the2010 season, the race was moved to a 12:00 p.m. PT (3:00 p.m. ET) due to NASCAR adopting standardized start times for all races.[43][44]
For a number of years, the championship game of theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament aired on the day of the Academy Awards ceremony, leading into primetime. During the48th Academy Awards in 1976, presenterElliott Gould acknowledged thegame during the ceremony after hearing it on a radio backstage, interjecting his co-presenterIsabelle Adjani by jokingly announcing that the winner forBest Film Editing was "Indiana, 86–68".[45] By the timeCBS had taken over broadcasting the NCAA Final Four, the Academy Awards ceremony had by now taken place the week before the Final Four, and has since moved well away into mid or late February (except duringWinter Olympic years) due to ABC's want to have the awards take place during the Februarysweeps period, along with the general consolidation of the film awards season into a shorter period.
The2012 NBA All-Star Game was played opposite the84th Academy Awards. The presentation drew an estimated 39.3 million viewers, a 4% increase over theprevious year. Conversely, viewership for the All Star Game onTNT measured at 7.1 million, a 22% decline fromlast year's 9.1 million.[46]
TheAlliance of American Football scheduled one of its contests opposite the91st Academy Awards in2019. The game drew 515,000 viewers, a bump of approximately 20% from the previous week's and following week's matchup on the same network,NFL Network.[47]
When Seattle'sKCPQ signed back on on November 4, 1980, it aired the filmThe Deer Hunter to counter the major networks' coverage of the1980 presidential election.[48]
NBC, the long-time broadcaster of theMacy's 4th of July Fireworks inNew York City, has historically aired an encore presentation of the special at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, immediately following its live broadcast. TheBoston Pops Orchestra's own concert and fireworks special on CBS aired live at the same time as the NBC encore. While NBC claimed that this was for budgetary reasons, Boston Pops executive producerDavid G. Mugar believed that NBC had done so to intentionally pull viewers away from the Boston Pops. After ratings fell by 1 million viewers for 2012, CBS ended its national broadcasts of the event in 2013; the concert was still aired in full, as before, by its Boston stationWBZ-TV.[49] The national broadcast was revived on CBS for 2016 with an expanded two-hour format,[50] before moving toBloomberg Television in 2017 due toBloomberg's new sponsorship of the event.[51][52]
On the day ofDonald Trump'sfirst inauguration as president of the United States,Comedy Central broadcast an all-day marathon of the20th season ofSouth Park — which had featured an ongoing storyline whereMr. Garrison is elected president in a parody of Trump and hiscampaign.[53]
During the2018 Winter Olympics, which were broadcast by NBC, other networks generally placed their main lineups of scripted programming on hiatus, barringThe CW for selected series. However, the networks continued to air most of their unscriptedreality programs as an alternative, with ABC airingThe Bachelor andShark Tank, and CBS airingThe Amazing Race. ABC and CBS also scheduled spin-offs of their other signature reality franchises to specifically compete against the Olympics, includingThe Bachelor Winter Games (which featured alumni ofthe franchise competing in winter sports challenges to earn dates), and the first American season ofCelebrity Big Brother—which aired its season finale against theclosing ceremony.[54] CBS would order asecond season ofCelebrity Big Brother to air in 2019,[55][56] followed by athird in 2022 to air against the2022 Winter Olympics.[57] ABC had planned a followup—The Bachelor Summer Games—to similarly air in August 2020 during the2020 Summer Olympics, but production was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[58]
In June 2024, after hispresidential campaign did not meet the criteria to participate,Robert F. Kennedy Jr. counterprogrammed theCNN-hostedpresidential debate betweenJoe Biden and Donald Trump with a livestreamed campaign event from Los Angeles dubbed "The Real Debate", in which he provided his own answers to the questions posed during the debate.[59][60]
In the late 1980s, the Brazilian upstart networkSBT faced counterprogramming efforts from perennial leaderRede Globo on several occasions, prompting SBT to engage in changes to its own schedule to avert them. After acquiring the rights to the American miniseriesThe Thorn Birds, SBT elected to schedule its airings after Globo's highly ratedsoap operaRoque Santeiro to avoid counterprogramming; when promoting it on hisvariety show, SBT founder and personalitySilvio Santos encouraged viewers to tune in forThe Thorn Birds after the soap. After the premiere successfully attracted viewers away from Globo, the network moved to giveSanteiro and its newscastJornal Nacional irregular running times, so thatSanteiro would intentionally overrun intoThe Thorn Birds' timeslot. To avert this counterprogramming attempt, SBT would pre-emptThe Thorn Birds to a later start time to compensate, airingcartoons as filler.[61]
Later, after Globo scheduled an airing ofRambo: First Blood Part II on the same day that SBT had planned to air itsprequel, SBT pre-emptedRambo to the following week, only for Globo to counterprogram it with back-to-back episodes of its soapVale Tudo. In response, SBT pre-emptedRambo to air afterVale Tudo, and aired a static slide announcing the schedule change for 50 minutes against the soap.[62]
In 2001, Globo attempted to counterprogram the season finale of SBT's reality showCasa dos Artistas with heavily-promoted features on its long-runningnews magazineFantástico, including stories onRoberto Carlos,Sandy & Junior, and a preview of the season finale forNo Limite (which itself was postponed to avoid counterprogrammingCasa). Globo lost in the ratings to SBT, which peaked with a network record of 55 ratings points.[63]
In theUnited Kingdom,Ofcom can punish broadcasters who deliberately counterprogram another broadcaster for the intent of damaging the other broadcaster's ratings. In 2000, the coincidental scheduling of thefirst million-pound winner onITV'sWho Wants to Be a Millionaire? opposite thefinal episode ofOne Foot in the Grave onBBC One drew accusations of counterprogramming; theIndependent Television Commission (ITC), after investigating the matter, exonerated ITV of any wrongdoing.[64]
By contrast in 2005, attempts by ITV to counterprogram the BBC'srevival ofDoctor Who with the poorly-received game showCelebrity Wrestling were unsuccessful, with ITVburning it off in a lower-profile Sunday timeslot after five episodes.[65]
When the NFL's 11-year television contract starts in 2023, NBC's spot in the Super Bowl rotation lines up the same year as the Winter Olympics.