TVloop Blog

There has been a lot of chatter across the blogosphere this week about socializing around TV.  Most of it began when Hulu announced that it was adding a variety of social features so that users could share their TV-watching habits with their friends.  The reviews are mixed so far as building a community doesn’t appear to be integrated very well into the user experience and seems to be a bit of an after-thought.  In the end you’ll probably see Hulu take advantage of Facebook Connect and other existing communities to allow users to more effectively share what their watching.

But aside from that, we wanted to find out whether users really want to socialize while their watching live broadcast television.  Keep in mind that we totally get that TV is a prime area for socialization or we would not have built 200+ TV applications for Facebook and MySpace while also building our own destination website, TVLoop.com.  But we’ve seen that most users visit our communities to interact around their favorite show before or after an episode airs.  They want to talk about the past episodes, answer trivia questions, and take quizzes.  They don’t want to chit chat online while the show is going on.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for that as Twitter has proven that real-time conversation is viable in certain scenarios and for certain shows.  But how prevalent is it?

When asked “Do you multi-task while watching TV?”, our poll shows that 49% of TVLoop users say no - when they’re watching TV, they want to watch TV.  Another 33% say their online in some form or fashion while the remaining 18% say they’re on the phone or texting with friends.

These results are mixed in my mind.  It’s basically a 50/50 split between those that only want to watch TV and those that want to have conversations (online or offline) while watching TV.  It’s a topic that we’ll definitely keep an eye on as it could have big impacts on our product roadmap and overall user experience. We tested real-time chat in the past and it did not do well within our applications. But that doesn’t mean that door is closed forever.

Back in October I asked the question here about whether watching TV is a social experience.  The context of that question was directed at CBS and their launch of social viewing rooms for online video.  We haven’t heard much about that feature in a while and my guess is that it has faded quietly into the background if not completely removed from the site.  The fact is that replays of scripted online video are not social activities.  By the time most viewers are watching online (assuming they’re watching legally), the conversation is not real time and generally involves plot discussions and what’s coming next.

But live TV is a bit different…especially for major events like the Presidential Inaugurations, the Academy Awards, and possibly sports.  The success of the Facebook/CNN Inauguration partnership has been widely reported as being very successful.  And according to MediaWeek, 11% of Oscar viewers were online while viewing live TV - and using Facebook and Twitter to discuss the program.

So that begs the question of whether TV events have to be LIVE to generate real-time social interaction, or whether scripted shows can be equally successful as a real-time social experience. Our assumption has always been that users want to discuss the episode after it’s over rather than as they’re watching it.  That’s the whole reason we chose Watercooler as the company name since most of the discussion within our Facebook applications are similar to things you would talk to officemates about at the watercooler the next day.

However, live discussion is also very valuable especially since it’s probably quite attractive to broadcasters and advertisers.  Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee opines that enhanced social interaction around real-time broadcast TV could be a good way to prevent viewers from tuning out or changing channels during commercial breaks.  He also points out that using pre-existing online affinity communities could be the perfect group to tap into for that purpose.  Look no further than our 17 million TV fans in our TVLoop community on Facebook.  To help drive some of that episode-centric behavior, we’ll be making some product changes in the future to more effectively drive interaction around each new episode.  If we’re successful, we should have a much easier time pitching sponsorhip opportunities to broadcasters and advertisers alike.

We often work with producers, broadcasters, writers, etc on all sorts of contests and promotions for specific shows including Dexter, Naruto, and Scrubs.  We’ve also worked with the crew from Ghost Whisperer a few times in the past, and are excited to be included in their most recent Ghost Whisperer Online Scavenger Hunt.

You can get all of the details at the TVGuide Blog, but essentially they have hidden a variety of images across Ghost Whisperer oriented sites, and contestants must find the appropriate image and corresponding letter from each one to proceed to the next clue.  The goal is to find all of the letters for a contest-specific URL. The Ghost Whisperer page on TVLoop.com is the first stop for contest participants, so we’re excited to see how that adds to the 27,000 fans we already have in the community (which includes our Facebook users).

Don’t look now, but CW has quietly become the fifth network among the big four in broadcast. TVWeek has a great article about the incredible rise of CW from an also-ran that carrried WWE Smackdown on Friday nights, to a broadcast powerhouse that is absolutely dominating its target demographic - women ages 18-34.  Bruce Rosenblum, President of Warner Bros. Television, said it best:

“We no longer receive questions from the creative community (or) from the advertisers (about the future of The CW),” said Bruce Rosenblum, president of the Warner Bros. Television Group. “I think the built-in assumption and the expectation is that The CW is here to stay.”

In addition to dumping WWE, the CW also made the key strategic decision to move away from half hour comedies in favor of hour-long scripted dramas targeted at their core demographic.  Enter Gossip Girl, widely considered to be the show that single-handedly saved the network.  It has since been followed by other successes like One Tree Hill, Supernatural, and Smallville - all cut from a very similar cloth.  And most important, the CW is not one to rest on it’s laurels.  Take a look at its blog and you’ll see a full slate of guest starring appearances to continue the momentum.

So how have CW show’s performed in the TVLoop community? Quite well, which makes complete sense given the demographic of the network compared to the demographic of social networks.  Below is a quick overview:

Of all TVLoop shows currently in production with new episodes, One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl are ranked 8th and 10th respectively.  But it doesn’t stop there, the shows also do remarkably well from a user engagement perspective.  Here are a couple of additional data points:

• 4 CW shows are in the top 12 for photos uploaded
• 4 CW shows are in the top 20 for wall posts
• 3 CW shows are in the top 12 for number of quizzes taken - One Tree Hill is #1 and Gossip Girl is #4
• 4 CW shows are in the top 12 for episode ratings

So as you can see, for the fifth network, CW holds its own nicely when it comes to TVLoop members.  And they’re only getting stronger as several are consistently in the top 20 of growth apps every week/month.

It has been a quick 2009 so far with 2 months already in the books.  Since the individual shows don’t seem to be changing from week to week, I thought it would be better to report on the Movers and Shakers within the TVLoop community on a monthly basis.  For the record, the Movers and Shakers reported here are the on-air TV shows that are growing the fastest within the TVLoop communities.  To make it more meaningful, I leave our all shows that are on hiatus or no longer in production.  So without further adieu, I give you the Movers and Shakers of February 2009:

The L Word has been on fire for the better part of three months and continues to lead the pack with a growth rate in February of almost 12%. Compared to the Nielsen Top 20 for the week ending February 22, 2009, there are quite a few differences.  Only 3 shows in the TVLoop Top 10 are on the Nielsen list: Grey’s Anatomy, House, and Lost.  As we’ve seen in the past, large viewer numbers don’t necessarily translate to passionate fans and online buzz.  Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill have some of the most passionate fans around, but are no where near the Nielsen Top 20.

That can end up being a key issue as the assumption is that many of those fans find other means of watching their favorite shows be they online, DVR, or illegal streaming.  That has been a sore spot for many producers who feel their viewer counts aren’t accurate.  And since those viewer counts are probably the #1 factor in determining whether a show gets canceled or renewed, and you can see why there is so much consternation about Nielsen numbers.