However, with the proliferation of social network sites and blogs, television stations are beginning to rely less on Nielsen ratings and increasingly more on feedback from viewers. According to variety.com,
NBC is increasing its efforts to analyze what fans are saying about its programs and to assess which shows are generating buzz. Such chatter certainly played a part in the Peacock bringing back “Chuck”. … It was also influential in saving such series as “Friday Night Lights,” …
NBC is placing particular emphasis on following sites such as Facebook and Twitter to garner responses from viewers, and accordingly, is making adjustments to television programming.
Psychology works in a funny way, though. I find it hard to believe that television executives are willing to take the career risk to make adjustments to their programming schedule based on subjective feedback from Internet buzz. If an executive bases a programming decision on online feedback (even though Nielsen ratings may marginally suggest otherwise), and the decision turns out to be a success, he will get a pat on the back. If, however, that same programming decision turns out to be a failure, his judgment will be questioned (since, after all, his decision was subjective), and his capabilities will be questioned for not using hard, objective, data. My conclusion is that while listening to Internet buzz may be worthy of board room discussions, it will not be used to fuel programming decisions in the long run.
2 comments:
sure glad the buzz around Friday Night Lights brought it back ! got my whimpy wife addicted to it.
I was a banking conference recently. A Chief Risk Officer emphasized the importance of maintaining the reputation. They feel that it critical to monitor what is being said about the company in newspapers, mag.'s and of course on blogs. The point is that the buzz is something that companies do concern themselves with. There is a need to be aware of public opinion good , bad or misinformed.
It kind of makes you wonder too, if a network can totally rely on crowdsourcing for programming decisions, certain programming execs might not have a purpose anymore..
Post a Comment