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60 MAY | JUNE 2013 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPH BY CANDACE DICARLO Showtime CEO Matt Blank has used boundary-pushing programming, cutting-edge marketing, and smart management to build his cable network into a national powerhouse. By Susan Karlin SUBVERSIVE PRACTICALLY PRACTICALLY THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE MAY | JUNE 2013 61 seems too … normal. “Matt runs the company in a very col- Showtime, Blank is involved with numer- This slim, understated, affa- legial way—he sets a tone among top man- ous media and non-profit organizations, Heble man speaking in tight, agers of cooperation, congeniality, and serving on the directing boards of the corporate phrases—monetizing the brand, loose boundaries that really works in a National Cable Television Association high-impact environments—this can’t be creative business,” says David Nevins, and The Cable Center, an industry edu- the guy whose whimsical vision has Showtime’s president of entertainment. cational arm. Then there are the frequent turned Weeds’ pot-dealing suburban “It helps create a sense of, ‘That’s a club trips to Los Angeles. mom, Dexter’s vigilante serial killer, and that I want to belong to.’ He stays focused “I’m an active person,” he adds. “I like Homeland’s bipolar CIA agent into TV on the big picture, maintaining the integ- a long day with a lot of different things heroes. Can it? rity of the brand and growing its exposure. going on. I think if I sat in a room and did Yet Matt Blank W’72, the CEO of Showtime, Matt is very savvy at this combination of one thing all day, I’d get frustrated.” has more in common with his network than programming and marketing that keeps his conventional appearance suggests. Showtime in the top of people’s minds.” efore Blank began redefining the “I have a term that describes our brand, Showtime brand with a revised pro- shows, and lead characters, and that’s sub- A cold November rain slams against the Bgramming slate in the middle of the versive,” says Blank. “But they’re subver- windows of Blank’s Manhattan office. last decade, he used to hear some annoying sive in a way that makes people want to Sixteen floors below, pedestrians huddle misattributions. Things like, “I was watch- root for them. Who would think that you’d against the elements as they make their ing Weeds on HBO.” be rooting for a serial killer—for seven way along Broadway and 50th Street. Oddly, the explosion of digital channels years now? Most of our lead characters are Inside tells a very different story. Blank helped cure that problem. living right on the edge of respectability, is unfazed by the weather, his workspace “We don’t see that anymore,” says Blank. or way over the line. But the shows tend to buzzing with efficiency and purpose. It’s “The On Demand platform is one of the be fairly high-concept, which makes it spacious and sleek; no show tchotchkes great things to happen to the brand, easier for people to embrace.” clutter the shelves. There’s a large com- because if you want to [catch up on our Blank’s personal subversion takes a puter monitor on a tidy desk at one end, shows] you have to go to Showtime On slightly different form. It has more to do a coffee table with a couch and chairs Demand. That contributed to an environ- with taking risks and following instinct for casual meetings at the other. It’s ment where we get much more credit for over expectation: pursuing a finance about as far from Hollywood flash and what we’re doing.” major during the countercultural ’60s, celebrity as you could imagine. Blank has a natural affinity for harness- choosing a media career while his class- Blank settles into one of the chairs. ing emerging digital technologies as mates opted for banking, twice leaving Quietly energetic, he looks considerably growth and branding opportunities, espe- established companies for fledgling start- younger than his 63 years, and manages cially compared with colleagues whose ups, and developing an open management his time with an enviable discipline. He’s mindsets were shaped by an analog world. style that sparks creativity—and profits. been awake since 6 a.m., with a workout, In broad terms, his job involves cultivat- Since joining in 1988 and becoming CEO show-footage screenings, and a handful ing the Showtime brand through edgy in 1995, Blank has grown Showtime of impromptu staff meetings already in programs; expanding it through social Networks Inc. from three premium net- the rearview mirror. The office hums media and marketing; and monetizing it works—Showtime, The Movie Channel, and like a well-oiled machine, thanks to a through international licensing, joint Flix—into a company that now provides 45 handpicked team of senior managers, ventures, new subscribers, and distribu- digital multiplex feeds. Along with many of whom have worked for Blank tion outlets like direct broadcast satellite Smithsonian Networks (a joint venture for two decades. (Dish Network, DirecTV), phone-company with the Smithsonian Institution) and the “We operate very informally,” he says. fiber-optic networks (Verizon’s FiOS, AT&T CBS Sports Network (which Blank does “I hate to come in in the morning and U-verse), and mobile platforms. not oversee), the company contributed $1.8 see my day booked every hour or half- Of the 114 million television house- billion in cable revenues to owner CBS last hour. I’d rather someone who worked for holds in the United States, Showtime is year. Creatively, Showtime cemented its me just called and I’d say, ‘Come down in slightly over 22 million. Though HBO formidability when Homeland, whose now and we’ll meet for 15 minutes.’ It’s is in 28 million homes, Showtime has lineup included Meredith Stiehm C’90 as quicker, more efficient, and I have more become less concerned with direct com- writer and executive producer, swept last control in what my day is like. petition than with standing out in the year’s Emmy Awards. (For more on her see “The one consistent thread is finance,” exploding landscape of original program- page 75.) he adds. “I’m very financially oriented, ming outlets. Hulu, YouTube, Amazon, To survive and triumph in such a com- and CBS [which owns Showtime] is a very RedBox, Blockbuster, and Netflix—all petitive and volatile industry requires a financially oriented company. We like to are now in the original production and number of highly refined talents. One is make our numbers; we like to exceed our distribution business. an ability to gauge long-term potential parent company’s expectations.” “We measure ourselves by our ability in emerging technology. Another is iden- Working meals are the norm: lunches to keep growing, adding revenue, and own- tifying and hiring talented executives— with staff or industry folks; evenings at ing successful programming regardless then staying out of their way. screenings or business dinners. Beyond of how the distribution universe and com- 62 MAY | JUNE 2013 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE In 1972, when he did graduate, East Coast Homeland’s Emmy Awards media gigs were hard to come by. “It was a recession year,” he says. “I looked for a bunch of jobs in media and never found sweep was not only a fi rst for anything I was terribly interested in.” But another arena—marketing—did call. an original Showtime scripted He worked first at Philip Morris, then American Express, where he served as brand manager for its Green Card. Blank series. It signaled an arrival thrived there, even earning an MBA at night from Baruch College in 1975. But he missed working in television. for Showtime itself. “One day, a guy I’d worked with, who’d gone to HBO, called me and said, ‘You petition changes,” says Blank. “You can might want to come over here and meet have as many new players out there buy- some people.’” ing original programming as you want—as “Some people” turned out to be then-CEO long as what we’re doing is very good.” Gerald Levin L’63 and some other high- The subversive brand plays well into ranking HBO executives. Within three increased viewer involvement, which has days, they had offered Blank a job as mar- prompted Blank to ramp up Showtime’s keting manager. He took it. That was early social-media and digital-marketing depart- 1976, when the fledging cable network had ment over the last six years. “Matt always only 300,000 or so subscribers. instinctively understood that we need to “It had about 40 to 50 employees, had be part of the national conversation to been up on the satellite for, like, four make people subscribe,” says Nevins. months, and wasn’t making any real During their most recent seasons last money,” he says. “I figured I’d work there fall, Dexter and Homeland ranked among for a year, then go over to a place like CBS.” the top 10 cable programs in show-specif- Life had other plans for him. ic tweets, Facebook likes, and check-ins on social TV apps like GetGlue, according Friday night, and the Elks Lodge was hop- to Trendrr, which tracks social media Blank and Homeland’s Claire Danes. ping. Another HBO launch party was in impact. Among all the network’s shows, full swing. Blank had flown to a small Dexter has the most expansive digital- He joined Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity airport, driven three hours to a smaller marketing effort, which includes a podcast, (which has since merged with ZBT), and town, and spent the day guiding the sys- original digital-motion comic webisodes, watched a lot of Penn sports.