Roku Impacting Ratings

 

  

 A Manhattan Love Story Without a Happy Ending

      There are few things I love more than piling up on the couch with my roommates to watch our Roku device. Roku has been a game changer for us. We are able to watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, HBO Go whenever our hearts desire (aka if our internet is working). Roku is just one of the many popular devices available for consumers with this streaming capability. Last week we were in the mood to try something new and after a lot of debate we settled on a show that looked that my roommate Libby summarized as “looks quirky and interesting…potentially cute” after reading the description of Manhattan Love Story. 

       The concept behind the show was definitely a new twist on a classic romantic comedy TV series. In a sentence, the show follows a new couple as they meet and begin dating by chronicling and narrating their thoughts. This “he thinks” “she thinks” concept sounds funny, however was not as well done as I was hoping for. 

     After the first scene I remember thinking to myself “not sure if I’m going to like this”. The thoughts of the boy and girl were extremely stereotypical as the guy checked out every girl walking by and the girl was analyzing all of the outfits she passed on her walk to work. As the episode continued some parts were funny, but for the most part we found ourselves just waiting for the episode and plot to get better. Unfortunately, it did quite the opposite in my opinion. I should be fair, I have never liked shows with narration, but I continually give them a chance before ruling out the show entirely. Something about the way the two main characters, Dana and Peter interacted seemed so stereotypical and fake. Just a 20 minute episode and my roommates and I could make it thru about 15 minutes before finally caving because we just “could NOT do it anymore”. 

      We found ourselves using the show and characters from the show as the butt of several jokes and recently heard that ABC has cancelled the show. Although, I was not surprised, I am still a little disappointed because I’m always rooting for the underdog. 

      After reading on Adweek about ABCs cancellation I realized Manhattan Love Story presented a unique situation for the network. In the past, networks have been notorious for quickly pulling and cancelling any shows that underperformed after only 2 or 3 episodes. ABC kept Manhattan Love Story running through late October with 4 episodes airing; the show ran longer than any show they have canceled since 2003. I learned that this is because the way ratings work is completely changing due to DVR and on-line viewer who are not watching the show live (aka my roommates and I watching our Roku). These delays views and bumps have dramatically impacted shows ratings among 18-49 age group. How to Get Away With Murder and Red Band Society both nearly doubled in live-plus-seven ratings after using a more delayed response measuring technique. 

       I am no expert in TV ratings and network cancellations, but this is an area of the industry I am interested in exploring more about. It is cool to see how advances in DVR and companies such as Hulu and Netflix are changing the game. As a marketing student, we are always discussing in class how and if digital and online will make TV irrelevant. However, it is encouraging to see the TV networks adapting and adjusting with these companies and their consumers’ preferences to stay relevant. Advertising has been anchored around television for decades and personally, I don’t see this going extinct for many more years to com, especially if companies continue to adapt and integrate multiple platforms to reach their consumer while also adapting to their lifestyles and preferences. 

Article referenced:

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/why-it-took-so-long-abc-cancel-manhattan-love-story-161019 

Follow for a Follow

 

      

   

        After attending the SouthWiRED Digital Marketing Conference in Atlanta last week, my mind was completely blown away with digital and all that is happening digitally in Atlanta. Additionally, this was one of my first digital marketing conferences. I’ve been to more networking events and panels, meet and greets, career fairs and formal recruiting events than I can even count. However, SouthWiRED was my first dive into the digital conference realm. I immediately appreciated the casual environment and was excited to begin following the hashtag for the day: #SWstudent. The live twitter feed quickly filled up with excited students and panelists tweeting about the day ahead of us. Everyone was excited and inviting everyone to join in the conversation on twitter ans Instagram! New and slightly intimidated by this encouraged interactivity, I decided to start small and began with retweeting some of my classmates. By the end of the day I had connected with over 40 of the attendees, panelists, companies represented and discussed. I had a blast posting quotes or questions that inspired me during the panels and a final tweet and Instagram to thank the panelists and hosts for an awesome conference.  I am now extremely excited about the many connections I was able to find and spent some time after the conference adding all these new connections, ideas, and companies on LinkedIn. I have had some great luck reaching out to companies and individuals to stay in touch or learn more about their careers and organizations. 

        I feel that I was able to capitalize on the social media opportunities and now have been able to connect on a professional level with many individuals in such a quick, easy, and almost casual way. I am excited to see where this leads, as these are some of my first connections and experiences networking with digital professionals; especially with some of the best digital and social media marketers Atlanta has to offer!

        Mashable just published an article with tips for utilizing and capitalizing social media when attending a conference. Here are the 5 most important tips for using social media during conferences:

1                                              1.  Play Nice

2                                              2. Get the hashtag right

3                                                                               3. Interact with others online

                                                                                  4. Don’t get carried away

                                                5. Have fun with it

        Personally, I  had the most fun with and benefited most by interacting with others who are posting about the event online. It was so easy to favorite or retweet an account that was sparking my attention during the conference. I was even able to arrange to meet with someone to talk about her career path between two of the panels after I commented on her tweet. I also agree with the article’s statement: “The key to finding that happy medium is posting enough so that it's informative but not so much that it seems like you aren't even really paying attention to the event”. I learned so much from the SouthWiRED conference about starting my career in digital. However, one of the most applicable and personally helpful takeaways for me was becoming comfortable connecting with professionals on social media to engage, listen, and learn through digital conversations. I am excited to continuing engaging in the future with companies and individuals via social media.

 Connect with me on Twitter!

@GraceHulett2015

Article referenced: 

http://mashable.com/2014/10/21/using-social-media-events/ 

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

 

Social Media or Survival Media

After hit snooze on my phone alarm way too many times, I was finally waken up by a blaring tornado siren outside my window forcing me to hop out of bed and start my day. I immediately texted my roommates on our group text via the GroupMe app on my phone to see who else was awake or if anyone had heard anything. Within seconds my mom was calling me and told me a tornado was “literally coming to Athens in 5 minutes” and to take cover in the first floor concrete stairwell of our apartment building. Without even realizing it I gathered up “the essentials” (my iPhone, iPad, iPhone charger), threw on shoes, and began assembling my sleepy roommates.

As we gathered on the steps, my roommate Shannon began updating us with comments about where the tornado had been spotted and/or touched down and where the storm was moving. I was flipping between several weather websites and news outlets on my iPad but couldn’t seem to find any information as accurate and concrete as her facts. I asked “What are you on that is showing you all of this?” Her reply: “just Twitter”. Shannon was receiving real-time, accurate updates and alerts during the storm via her twitter feed. We knew exactly when the storm was over the stadium and the tweets were spot on when predicting the amount of time left before we received an all clear.

 

In the meantime, our other roommate Haley kept blurting out facts about UGA such as the evacuation of the SLC, classes would not be canceled, and of course the occasional #FreeTodd tornado related comment. She was reading all of these updates and statuses from her Yik Yak app. With time to kill, I began checking my Snapchat out of habit and was surprised to see at least 20 of my friends had uploaded pictures and videos to their “snap stories” depicting them taking cover or seeking shelter from the storm. Many of the snaps included a description such as “this is real”, “this isn’t a drill”, “hiding in my bathtub”. Eventually I opened a snap that read “UGA says all clear” but it wasn’t for another 5 minutes before I finally received the UGA Alert message confirming the all clear. As we huddled in the staircase blurting out updates and checking our social media pages for real-time news I was amazed at the accuracy and our dependency on social media. My friend even tweeted:

 

 

 Amanda makes a great point. I barely remember the days before I turned to Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter to get my real-time news updates. Although social media is sometimes blamed for our generation’s dependency on technology and lack of interpersonal skills, I don’t think I’d have it any other way. I think social media has become a way of life for most of our generation. I am thankful for the ability to be up to date and informed at all times and receive news updates in real-time. On the other hand, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t also enjoy staying up to speed on the latest gossip, drama, sports news, or events happening via the social media accounts of friends and users I follow. Considering there is never a moment where my phone is farther than 3 feet from my fingertips, I am extremely thankful and constantly in awe of the power of social media and the internet amongst our generation. Whether that means hearing every detail about Todd Gurley’s “indefinite suspension” from Georgia football (#FREETODD) or catching the moment by moment progression of a severe storm, I am thankful for social media and wouldn’t want to live without it.