Hasta La Creative!

Since August 2012, Ad Age has had an editorial partnership with TVGuide.com focused on its Watchlist, a customizable entertainment guide that lets users make a list of their favorite shows, actors, etc. We’re fans of Watchlist because of its predictive powers: For several of the past TV seasons, 8 of the top 10 most Watchlisted new shows were picked up for full seasons.

Shortly after we published two charticles in May — one about the most Watchlisted new dramas announced at the Upfronts, the other about the most Watchlisted comedies — CBS Corp. bought out the half of TV Guide Digital (TVGuide.com and its mobile apps) it didn’t already own, from Lionsgate. The good news, for those concerned about the integrity of the Watchlist rankings, is that TVGuide.com has kept full editorial independence — and Watchlist rankings remain entirely user-driven. Tellingly, one of TVGuide.com’s biggest advertisers recently was CBS competitor NBC, which bought a summer-long sponsorship.

So Watchlist remains for us a sort of massive focus group of informed TV viewers. The number of Watchlists created by TVGuide.com visitors and users of the TVGuide.com mobile apps now tops 1.5 million (up from just half a million when we started this partnership).

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