Save Angel Campaign Announces New Targets: Warner Execs And Nielsen Company; Declares "War on Ratings" With Demographic Survey of 10,000

The Save ANGEL Campaign at SaveANGEL.org released its new directives Friday. The targets are top executives at Warner Entertainment, and a new "enemy": Nielsen Media Research.

(PRWEB) March 9, 2004 --On the heels of a rumored UPN pass at the series ANGEL, the Save ANGEL Campaign released its new directives Friday. The targets are top executives at Warner Entertainment, and a new "enemy": Nielsen Media Research.

SaveANGEL.org is urging fans of ANGEL to send letters and postcards to Barry Meyer, Warner Bros. chief executive and chairman; and Garth Ancier, The WB Network's Co-Chairman. Ancier helped found The WB and was intimately involved with the development of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," for which he personally selected Sarah Michelle Gellar as the lead.

According to his official Warners bio, Mr. Meyer was "an integral architect in the formation of The WB Television Network." Both Garth Ancier and The WB's youthful Co-CEO Jordan Levin report directly to him.

"In targeting these two executives, we chose those who were directly tied to the network's foundation, who would understand the importance of a loyal audience base," said Save ANGEL coordinator Simon Fleischmann.

Other campaigns have suggested mailing additional executives, including the Time Warner Chairman of Entertainment & Networks Group, Mr. Jeff Bewkes.

The campaign also announced its "War on Ratings" by declaring that the sample size used by the Nielsen Media Research was too small to accurately measure the ANGEL audience. According to SaveANGEL.org's calculations, "The demographics of the show's viewership is actually gathered from fewer than 130 households."

A petition-survey effort by the campaign devised to counter the small Nielsen sample has already garnered over 10,000 entries. Optional fields are included for demographic information, such as sex, marital status (if female), age, and location. The data gathered in the petition will be consolidated to provide a fuller picture of just who watches the series.

"No one has every measured the actual ANGEL audience before in this quantity," Fleischmann said. "The Nielsen company can, at best, extrapolate based on a limited number of viewers who makes up the show's demographics."

Already some surprising findings have been made: a preponderance of the viewership is young females-- the exact audience The WB is trying to court.

Starting this past week, the comments and reactions of those 10,000 entries were made available to be read publicly. Included is the age and location of participants, drawn from information given voluntarily.

"What we're seeing is that the audience, while diverse, is generally young, and extremely loyal to the series. They could be a core asset to the network smart enough to hold onto them." said Fleischmann

The outcome of an online petition, the complete comments along with names, ages and locations, will be printed, bound and delivered to The WB offices by mid-March. A number of similar petition efforts have been running simultaneously, but none include the demographic data that the SaveANGEL.org campaign has gathered to provide a fuller picture of ANGEL viewers.

ABOUT SAVEANGEL.ORG
SaveANGEL.org went live on February 17, just days after the announcement by The WB of the cancellation of the series ANGEL. It has since been visited by over 150,000 people from around the world, and been recognized for its efforts by Lycos 50, Entertainment Weekly, E! Online, Tribune-owned WB affiliates and numerous newspapers around the world.

ABOUT ANGEL
Produced by Twentieth-Century Fox Television and Mutant Enemy Productions, ANGEL is a spin-off from the popular and critically acclaimed Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It stars David Boreanaz, as a vampire cursed with a soul, who tries to redeem his past by fighting evil. This year, the creator of Buffy, Joss Whedon, returned to helm the series. ANGEL is currently in its fifth season on The WB and is distributed throughout the world. The season finale is scheduled for May 19.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Simon Fleischmann
Coordinator,
SaveANGEL.org
coordinator@saveangel.org

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