SOCIAL MEDIA IS CHANGING THE TV LANDSCAPE
This is article via mashable - got me thinking about a recent project we had conducted at the agency which involved assessing media properties based not only standard media metrics; audience and reach, but considering the extent to which audiences were engaged beyond the box in related channels (Website, Twitter, Video clips in YouTube etc).
Its one thing to think about this from an audience POV, but how is TV using this understanding of multi-dimensional media engagement? This article discusses some case studies.
The first demonstrates how savvy celebrity is able to bolster the chance of success for their TV show via amassing a pre-engaged online audience prior to a launch. The example given is that of Jimmy Fallon, who used Twitter and other SM tools to develop a 100k following prior to the launch of his new late night TV show going (his twitter following is now 1.1M), and his show a success in a competitive programming time slot. Interestingly our own (read: only) late night yawn fest leader Rove has a paltry 4,000 followers, but I’m sure he reads the news, and twitter has suddenly become an asset of the show.
The second case is around the individual power of social media super stars like Ashton Kutcher (2M+ followers) and how this people power might liberate them from the TV production houses & Film distributors when it comes to TV media and distributing their content. Similar principles have already proven themselves, and we have to look only as far as the music industry to see success stories of this kind; Radio Head and NIN are good examples of musicians that have escaped the respective grasps of their music labels to interact directly with loyal fans.
So, here it is. Calling on our next night late TV host – you only need more than 5,000 twitter followers to beat the incumbent
2 Comments
Sam Granleese said: (on June 3rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm)
I was talking to someone last week about an odd theory.. what do you think? Celebrities are using Twitter to drown the paparazzi by controlling and broadcasting their own ‘raw celebrity’ footage that is both closer to the celebrity themselves (it is actually them) and more recent (it is live, versus being 1-2 weeks old in a magazine or 1 day on a celeb-blog like Perezhilton).
So my theory is are they embracing Twitter to make the paparazzi irrelevant by changing what people expect to see?
tim said: (on June 30th, 2009 at 2:39 pm)
interesting thought and to some extent the normal paparzzi shots (celebs shopping) have fallen drastically in price as normal people snap away on their phones.
the most recent colors magazine carries articles on an artist displaying almost every minute of his existence (photos, GPS data), overloading the FBI (that has been watching him) with data. ending privacy so to say.
wouldnt be the first time that celebrities follow art practice.