Bravo's Strategy For Success is to "Be Bravo, More Often and in More Places"

Bravo is my absolute favorite network. It’s the network I watch most often and the first I flip to whenever I channel surf. So when I heard Lauren Zalaznick, President of Bravo Media and Oxygen Media, tell journalists over breakfast at Craft yesterday that the network’s strategy for continued success would be to Be Bravo, More Often and in More Places, I was thrilled.

And it seems my obsession is typical of most Bravo fans. Regardless of volume, though Bravo plans to reach 90 million homes this year, viewers are deeply engaged and passionate about the content. “We’re all about consistently super-serving our passionate and I would say sometimes fanatical viewers” said Susan Malfa, Senior Vice President of Ad Sales.

Zalaznick went on to define “Bravo” (the adjective) as young, affluent, entertaining and educated. “Bravo more often” means 45 percent more original content this year and “in More Places” means experiencing the Bravo brands in the market, on and off air and online. Both Malfa and Zalaznick referenced the Top Chef Cookbook as an example of the ways in which viewers could experience Bravo in more places.

Last night I assembled some of my closest friends to watch the finale of The Real Housewives of New York City followed by the season 3 premiere of Workout. “What will we do now that Housewives is finished?” and “Why hasn’t Jackie [Warner] done a Workout exercise DVD?” were among the many questions we had. Fortunately, Bravo’s website is robust with additional The Real Housewives of New York City content and the Workout: One-On-One Training With Jackie DVD will be available on May 20^th. It was a perfect example of what Bravo executives emphasized that morning, Bravo viewers just can’t get enough Bravo.

Despite the loss of Project Runway to Lifetime, Bravo will air the fifth season of the hit fashion design competition this July. Of the loss of the show, Zalaznick said “I’ll say it straight out. Regarding last week’s news, as you can well imagine, I have not much to say. It’s ongoing litigation and ‘no comment’ starts here and ends here and that’s what I have to say.”

In addition to a new season of Project Runway, Bravo’s returning series include Flipping Out, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Million Dollar Listing, The Millionaire Matchmaker, The Real Housewives of New York City, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Shear Genius, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, Top Chef and Top Design.

Frances Berwick, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Bravo Media, unveiled a number of new series. My favorites were Date My Ex and The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Date My Ex stars Jo De La Rosa and Slade Smiley of The Real Housewives of Orange County. It’s not your typical reality dating series. De La Rosa searches for love in Los Angeles with the help of her ex-boyfriend, Smiley.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey is the newest addition to Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise. It will chronicle the lives of five New Jersey women. I’m not sure which will be bigger- the homes, the drama or the hair.

Of the series in development, two look equally entertaining and appalling- Miami Social and Tabatha’s Salon Takeover.

Miami Social peers into the lives of a group of attractive, wealthy and young professionals living in Miami. In a rough clip of the casting reel, one of the stars, George, says “I tend to have 2 or 3 or 4 females with me at any one time.” He describes his ex-wife, who also stars in the show, as an “evil woman” but he maintains that they are “very good friends.”

Tabatha’s Salon Takeover (working title) follows Tabatha Coffey, who was last seen in the first season of Shear Genius, as she seeks to improve salons across America. In a preview clip, Coffey scolds hair stylists for chewing gum, insisting that they spit it out immediately, into Coffey’s hand. “I don’t think I’ll ever chew gum again” says one of the stylists. After seeing the clip, I don’t think I will either.