Recently, cable station GSN announced that it had decided to move poker-related programming to Sunday nights. The network is the home of popular cash game show “High Stakes Poker” and holds the rights to the sixth season of the World Poker Tour. However, GSN elected not to pick up the rights to air Season VII of the WPT, which has since been picked up by Fox Sports Net. Ratings for the network have since skyrocketed on Sunday nights.
Heidi J. Diamond, Executive Vice President of GSN, sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the industry’s response to its poker programming time block on Sundays and give us an insight into how the show has faired in terms of ratings.
Poker News Daily: What has the reaction been to moving poker programming on GSN to Sunday nights?
Diamond: It’s been killer. We wanted to carve out its ideal location. Poker has such a rabid fan base. The rationale in terms of our thinking was to find an ideal location for it when there’s other complimentary content out there people may be looking for. For those are “football-ed out,” poker is a perfect respite on Sunday nights.
PND: What ratings information you can share?
Diamond: We are up in every single demographic. Here are a few sample ratings on Sunday nights in the third quarter of this year as compared to the third quarter of last year:
Increase of 38% in household ratings
Increase of 55% in adults ages 18-49
Increase of 55% in adults ages 25-54
I love poker and the one thing that I’ve said is that poker does not just appeal to men. We have seen improvement in our delivery to women as well:
Increase of 30% in women ages 18-49
Increase of 45% in women ages 35-54
PND: Was the move to Sunday nights influenced by the announcement that the World Poker Tour’s Season VII tournaments would air on Fox Sports Net the same night?
Diamond: No. We staked out Sunday night as our poker party. It’s finding vertical day parts that go along with poker. We intended to build out Sunday nights and also have plans to build out other nights for themed content.
PND: What have viewers of GSN said about the network picking up the fifth season of “High Stakes Poker” and what information on the show can you share?
We’re picking up another season and are in the midst of making all of those plans. The show is so well-respected. We’ve gotten viewer feedback through our message boards on how thrilled they were when we announced that the show would be back. Comcast.net has a popular section called the Fancast and the WPT has been featured there. I would imagine that High Stakes Poker will be featured as well. It’s the best poker series on television and caters to all ages. People like to see who the card players are and learn new skills.
PND: Explain what impact not having new World Poker Tour programming on GSN will have in the future, if any?
Diamond: We have high regard for the WPT. We continue to be good friends and partners since we’ll still be airing Season VI and we never closed the doors. We’ve also aired one-off specials on poker and when those kinds of opportunities present themselves in the future, we’ll give more consideration. We plan to use some of our interstitials to enhance our viewers’ experience. We’re re-branding our network and that will factor in.
PND: How did you become involved in the company?
Diamond: I’ve been in television for a long time. I’ve worked with kids, teens, music, movies, news, and women, and was the President of Martha Stewart Omnimedia’s television arm for a long time. I had never worked in this field. During the tumultuous times at Martha Stewart, I learned to play poker by watching “Celebrity Poker Showdown” on Bravo. I couldn’t sleep and watched repeats at 2:00am. I would get up and play on PartyPoker. That’s how I de-stressed.
PND: Explain the challenges of constantly innovating.
Diamond: It’s about bringing fresh types of approaches and it starts with the consumer. It’s all about what the consumer wants. I go into people’s houses and watch their behaviors and interactions. I do a tremendous amount of focus groups and other testing.
I have dish and High stakes poker is gone