This
past Sunday, NBC’s live broadcast of The Golden Globe Awards generated more
online activity on social sites than the Royal Wedding last year. The show
inspired about 700,000 tweets with messages critiquing Gervais’ hosting duties
(and apparent absence from much of the show), showing support for the
miniseries winner Downtown Abbey, and
spreading a GIF of Tina Fey ‘photobombing’ Amy Poehler to name a few trends.
Due to the instantaneous nature of social networking sites, many have
speculated that use of Twitter, and to a degree Facebook, could potentially
increase the number of viewers who watch television live.
While
there is not overwhelming support for the idea that ‘social television’ will
cause an individual to watch a program, it does make the experience more
interactive. At least for major television events (like awards shows, sporting events, or finales), this can
create more of a draw to watch the live broadcast. This draw, however, may not
be as powerful as it sounds, but a largely unexplored benefit is the ability
for advertisers to interact directly with viewers.
By examining what trends on Twitter
spike during various events, advertisers make assumption on whether their
product will benefit from the conversation. For example, 48% of the conversation
on Twitter during the globes revolved around the Red Carpet – clothing brands
advertising could fit in with the conversation. Also, advertisers can look to
the internet to see the immediate reactions to ad campaigns launched during
events like the Super Bowl. This could be in an attempt to spread online buzz
or to gauge if the ad is sending the intended message before it plays for the
remainder of the year. While the financial affect Twitter can have on
traditional advertisements is unclear, the added interaction with consumers is
promising.
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