Never count "The Simpsons" out. The show, which has been on the air since 1989, keeps knocking 'em dead, this time in the form of a massive mega marathon. In the first day of the historic marathon, the longest one in TV history, the first 34 reruns of classic episodes broke all sorts of records on the relatively new network.
"We knew that 'The Simpsons' could be transformative for FXX and its performance yesterday truly exceeded our wildest expectations," according to FXX president of program strategy Chuck Saftler.
By the time prime-time rolled around, the marathon hit its stride, delivering a fivefold boost in FXX's ratings. That translates to over 1 million total viewers, according to the Nielsen ratings.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Thursday's kickoff of the massive marathon marked the most watched day in FXX history.
"If we're going to buy this property that we believe so much in, we want to future-proof it," said Saftler when talking to The Hollywood Reporter. "The critical element of that is owning all episodes on a nonlinear basis all the time. ... We look at FXNow as our fourth network that we're curating on top of FX, FXX and FXM."
It is fair to say that "The Simpsons" has acted as the flagship program for FOX and all of its subsidiaries, and this marathon looks to be paying off in spades. Awareness for the FXX network has greatly increased and is killing it in the most important demographics among adults ages 18-49.
The marathon all leads up to the "Simpsons World" app which will kick off in October. The app will include the following:
- Every episode ever, in an order that's easy to browse, but also easy to search.
- A search function that allows you to quickly find - and share across social media - your favorite Simpsons joke or scene.
- Ability to curate your own playlists of episodes and/or scenes, and a learning function that will then recommend similar ones for you to try or revisit.
- An exhaustive episode guide that can be opened up to run parallel to the episode, featuring historical references, behind-the-scenes info, quotes, etc. You can also have each episode's script scrolling along as you watch it, and you can excerpt and share parts of the script, as well.
