G4 Network Tries a New Game Plan to Get More Guys

March 25, 2008 — -- It's game on for cable's G4 network.

Launched by Comcast in 2002 as a channel for video gamers, G4 has broadened its focus to young men of all stripes and carved a distinctive niche airing Japanese stunt shows in prime time.

Helped by a merger with Tech TV, the channel now reaches 64 million homes. And though its audience is still tiny, averaging 138,000 viewers in prime time last year, it has had 15 consecutive months of growth among its target audience of men ages 18 to 34.

In hindsight, the focus on TV about video games was "a strategy that was flawed, because guys are spending so much time doing the gaming themselves," says Comcast Entertainment Group president Ted Harbert, who also oversees E! and Style. "And these guys are online, not in front of the set like they used to be."

Last month, G4 filled out Duty Free TV, a prime-time block of Japanese stunt shows led by Ninja Warrior, its top-rated series; Unbeatable Banzuke, a precursor; and Big Super Product Fun Show, a goofy mix of Jackass and weird product showcase.

This summer, look for more humor aimed at the Maxim set: Hurl, an original U.S.-made eating-and-regurgitating competition that will gorge contestants on chicken pot pies or clam chowder, then strap them into spinning rides. "Whoever hurls last wins," says G4 president Neal Tiles. And on June 1, the channel will premiere animated series Spaceballs, based on the Mel Brooks movie, along with the TV premiere of The King of Kong, a documentary about the quest for high-scoring stardom in Donkey Kong.

G4 is also supplementing syndicated staple Cops with same-week repeats of NBC's Heroes, and this fall begins airing ABC's Lost, starting with the series pilot, each weeknight. Other fixtures: Attack of the Show, a magazine series, and X-Play, a video-game review series.

Unlike Spike's imported Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, which features dubbed commentary from jokey American announcers, G4 has preserved its series' antic Japanese narration, opting for subtitles with only recaps in English.