Fitness industry benefits from using social media

What is great about social media is that anybody can use it and sue it how they like. Social media allows for you to publish whatever your lifestyle is and what you enjoy for all to see. Health and Fitness is something I take serious in my life and that I am passionate about. In our current days social media is something that surrounds our lives and what we decide to use these platforms for defines us as individuals. The people you follow and what you tweet about. The pages you follow on Instagram and the pictures you post and the same goes for Facebook as well as the many other social media outlets. Over the last few months I have really taken an interest and liking towards different exercise and fitness pages on Instagram. The amount of information I have learned over the past few months may be more than everything I have learned previously. Most people that are not properly educated on working out and nutrition tend to look for the quickest and east means of getting in shape as possible and the bottom line is that is not necessary. People spend hundreds of dollars on the latest program and end up quitting on it before they can finish it and receive the full benefits of it. I see Instagram as a great platform for proper education of fitness in the specifics of food, nutrition, recipes, exercises, pictures of results (before and after) and motivation and positivity in life. People that can’t afford these expensive programs should take a look at the free and easy to access social media platforms that have everything and anything a person needs to start and continue a healthy life with fitness as a part of it. I am going to show how social media has grown over the past year and how the health and fitness industry is benefitting and growing as well. I will also show you the growth of certain businesses on other social networks as well.

Instagram is a prime media outlet for exercise and fitness because of the ability to use visuals. What better way to show the proper way to exercise and preform an exercise properly by means of picture and video? The integrating of video is an excellent advancement for people that promote their business and information on Instagram. I believe this contributes to why I see many fitness pages having thousands of followers.  Instagram put this out in June 2013 to compete with the new video app Vine. “Instagram also outpaced Twitter, the No. 10 app that grew 36% to 30.7 million last year (Walsh 1).” The success of these social networks is due to various numbers of things but I see an increasing trend in the growth of fitness. I have seen this growth on spectrums, the fitness industry and also social media. “Participation in these activities has increased by 20 percent in the last three years, in part because they provide an opportunity for socialization that young adults have come to crave in the era of social media, according to the report by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) and the Association of Fitness Industry Retailers and Manufacturers (Club Industry Fitness 1)” An example of how the people that work in the fitness industry benefit from social media is a page called @muscleprodigy. They are two guys that sell a workout program to people and they promote their business on Instagram, YouTube, twitter and Facebook. They have 172,000 followers on Instagram which is a solid fan base. They post videos and pictures of tips and lesson on how to exercises and eat. They also have a link on their page that takes you directly to their website where you can purchase teir program. This is an excellent example of a person taking advantage of a great free way to advertise a business and grow.

With technology advancing and social media as well, I see this growth of fitness in social media only to continue. Older people are valuing health more and also using smartphones more and same goes for the younger generations. “That desire for communication may have helped popularize fitness electronics, another trend included in the report. Small devices appeal to exercisers because they make it easy for users to monitor their exercise, share workout information with friends and family and even compete to see who can burn more calories or lose the most weight (Club Industry’s Fitness 1).” 

Children’s Cable Networks Aim to Expand Outside Target Demographic

Christine Little

I’m sure most of us had a favorite children's show while growing up, and most of us remember watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. Between Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network, it seems as though these networks are the ‘big three’ children's channels on air today, and I’m sure a majority of us can name at least one show from each we watched, or maybe some of us still watch these channels or programming from these channels today. I know Cartoon Network has the ‘Adult Swim’ block of programming each night, and Disney likes to air movies from the late 1990s-early 2000s around 3am every night. Nickelodeon, which has at least 4 stations on my cable provider at home, has been on air since the early 1990s, but is currently going through a rough patch.

From 2010-2012, Nickelodeon’s ratings were suffering, despite all that was being done by the channel to boost viewership. In an article published by Brodcasting & Cable, Nickelodeon’s business strategies were: aiming to win with tweens, ignite family position, expand the brand and “supercharge key franchises.”  Nickelodeon President Cyma Zarghami stated, "every decision, every investment, everything we've done for the past few years serves at least one of these. It is listening to kids every day that has kept our business successful, and it is our success that has inspired us to expand our audience." In 2010, Nickelodeon debuted six new series, and returned 16 series from previous years. The channel is looking to expand to air programing for the whole family, and attempts to do so by having programing blocks including Nick at Nite, TeenNick, Nicktoons, and Nick Jr –aiming to appeal to different demographics on one channel. (Weprin)

It was speculated that Nickelodeon was losing viewers to Netflix from 2011-2012. Peter Kafka debated that it wasn’t true, as Netflix primarily hosted Nickelodeon content not currently in production, such as the content we grew up with; and Viacom, the parent company, felt as though Nielson wasn’t properly measuring the channel. (Netflix Is Not Hurting Nickelodeon Ratings) In 2012, Nickelodeon ratings fell 20%, and Disney Channel became the highest rated network among the target demographic. (James) However, even though more pre-teens have been watching more TV, according to Sam Schechner, Nielson ratings indicated “kids are watching more non-kid channels than they used to,” which shows how children may not even be as interested in children’s media as they were years ago, but again, suspicions of misreporting ratings were brought up. (TV Draws More Kids but Nickelodeon Loses Viewers)

Poggi named Nickelodeon one of the “Five Cable TV Networks to Watch in 2013” despite the networks’ problems, which shows just how relevant Nickelodeon has managed to stay, even 12 years after the channels’ arguable biggest hit, Spongebob Squarepants, reached its’ height of popularity. Spongebob still has high ratings, and is a profitable franchise today, but in 2002 Spongebob Squarepants was a cultural phenomenon. Despite being intended for children, Spongebob held a monthly average of 18.6 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. (Strauss)

Spinoff series seem to be popular at Nickelodeon. Avatar The Last Airbender debuted on Nickelodeon in 2005, and ran until 2008. It spawned a movie, released in July 2010. (Weprin) A sequel series was also developed, called The Legend of Korra, which began airing in 2012. (IMDB) It seems as though Nickelodeon is setting up Avatar to be the next big franchise of the company. From what I have seen, many people in the 18+ demographic are interested in the series. Despite never watching it myself, from my social media, I can name various characters and explain certain plot points. Sam & Cat, a spinoff of two relatively successful shows iCarly and Victorious, premiered on Nickelodeon in 2013. The reboot of 80s series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted to an audience of almost 4 million and has kept an audience of around 3.4 million viewers per episode. (Poggi) The reboot appeals to the nostalgic watchers of the original 1980s series, who may have children of their own at this point, as well as a potential new audience.

In 2013, Disney Channel was “the No. 2 basic cable network for the year”, beating out History, TNT, and even ESPN. Nickelodeon did not make the list. (Kissell) During the week of February 16, 2014, Disney was the third highest viewed cable network, and among the 18-49 demographic, was 15th in prime-time viewership. However, on February 16^th, 2014 Nickelodeon was the cable channel with the highest number of viewers (Bibel) According to the James article, on February 17, Nickelodeon debuted a new show, Breadwinnners, originally a YouTube series, that the network executives are hoping will continue to boost ratings. Both Disney and Nickelodeon are succeeding in their target 2-11 demographic, but they are finding success outside of it, as well.

Works Cited:

Bibel, Sara. "TNT Wins Week With Cable Primetime Adults 18-49 & Viewers; Nickelodeon Biggest Total Day Viewership For Week Ending February 16, 2014." TVbytheNumbers. N.p., 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

James, Meg. "Has Nickelodeon Found Its New Bread Winner?" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

Kissell, Rick. "TBS, USA Lead the Way Among Top-Rated Cable Nets of 2013." Variety 12 Dec. 2013. Web.

Netflix Is Not Hurting Nickelodeon Ratings. Perf. Peter Kafka. YouTube. Wall Street Journal, 02 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMK3fW_Jvp4

Poggi, Jeanine. "Five Cable TV Networks to Watch in 2013." Advertising Age. 28 Dec. 2012. Web.

Strauss, Gary. "Life's Good for SpongeBob." USA Today, 17 May 2002. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

"The Legend of Korra." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

TV Draws More Kids but Nickelodeon Loses Viewers. Perf. Sam Schechner. Wall Street Journal, 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. http://live.wsj.com/video/tv-draws-more-kids-but-nickelodeon-loses-viewers/62E3A429-2EDD-4ED4-A4D9-011D26FF4917.html

Weprin, Alex. "Upfronts 2010: Nickelodeon Looks to The Future With Five Pillar Strategy." Cable Television News, Broadcast, Syndication, Programming & Local TV. Broadcasting & Cable, 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

Behind The Message: The Misrepresentation of Women in Magazine Covers and Advertisements.

           It is known to the world that women are beautiful, sexy, and sultry. But what else do we know about women, other than what the media shows us and tells us? Have you ever wondered why many women struggle with low self-esteems? Or perhaps why they are often criticizing themselves for not meeting the unrealistic expectations of a medium such as a women’s magazine? Everyday women are being influenced by women’s magazines and are being targeted to accept this ideology of consumerism in which women without them knowing, are being told how to live their lives. In other words, women as consumers are not aware of the true intention behind the content of a magazine, whether it is in their magazine cover or inside their ads, women do not know that they are being misrepresented.

            In a women’s magazine we see this airbrushed perfect model, because let’s face it there’s no such thing as perfection without a little Photoshop. But most times, women consumers don’t see past it. They believe in the idea that they have to look a certain way. If they don’t, they are the outcast because they fail to meet these absurd standards that the media keeps alive with the use of their advertisements in these magazines. Many of these magazines have been criticized for promoting the idea of what a woman should look like; they have been criticized for artificially creating beauty. For instance, fashion magazine Vogue has been dealing with a lot of criticism ever since their February issue came out and it was discovered through Internet pictures that their cover model actress Lena Dunham, (HBO Girls) was extremely photoshopped. (http://www.adweek.com/news/press/debate-controversial-magazine-covers-alive-and-well-155400) According to an ADWEEK article, “The debate over how women’s magazines represent their subjects is, of course, nothing new. Women’s fashion magazines in particular have been dealing with criticism that we show unrealistic standards of beauty for a long time.”(Bazilian1). Vogue has not been the only magazine under fire, there have been plenty of other magazines that have created controversies but they choose to avoid any discussion in regards of their photos being retouched.

            These magazines are not just influencing women but also affecting their lives. It has become a habit, a routine to rely on such medium that tells you as a woman what to do with yourself and what your job is in society. According to the book Media/Society by David Croteau and William Hoynes, “So-called women’s magazines are loaded with advertisements and editorial content, nearly all of which promote an ideology that celebrates consumption associated with beauty, fitness, attracting men, and the good life.”(181). In other words, women’s magazines encourage women to consume this lifestyle that is praised to be the idea lifestyle in today’s society. Truly, the idea is based on perfection, and sadly as I mentioned earlier there is no such thing as perfection. However, it is a marketplace, and like every marketplace it is business, and at the end of the day, it is not so much about helping women to improve themselves, but it is about exploiting them and make them purchase these products that are being advertised in the magazine.

            Furthermore, along with the idea of how women should live their lives according to a women’s magazine, women who take part of magazine advertisements are being misrepresented as well because they are being sexualized in the ads. They are being used to provoke and to lure the male audience. These magazines promote the ideal lifestyle by showing how sexuality and beauty can be bought in today’s society. This leads to what goes on in today’s popular culture, as women are being degraded and are being treated like objects instead of being treated like actual women. Whether they are aware or not, women who are participants in such ads, are being exploited and in some way their bodies and image is being misrepresented as well as disrespected.

            In Killing Us Softly 4 advertising’s image of women, Jean Kilbourne discusses how the advertising of women has become worse. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY) Kilbourne talks about how not only are these advertisement images telling the consumers how to live their lives, but women in particular are being portrayed as objects and things and these images affect a woman’s self esteem. Kilbourne also points out that by making women into things, advertisements can send a message of violence.

            Women’s magazines are able to create an identity with a set of consumer behaviors that are considered to be “normal” in today’s society. By displaying these behaviors on their ads, magazines promote this message by telling their female audience that it is a must to purchase certain products to live a better life. According to The Association of Magazine Media, “Consumers’ favorite places to look at ads: 45% print magazine.”(1). Advertisement companies know exactly where to use their ads, and they know that the audience they are looking for is those who consume magazines on the daily basis. Whether they’ll stop sexualizing women or misrepresenting them will always be a question because at the end of the day, all it matters is that they make profit from their sales. These magazines are not making women better; they are making them go broke and creating this illusion of fake reality.

Works Cited

"2013 Is Pivotal Year for Magazine Media: Advertising Up 6% Across Platforms." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. 30 Dec. 2013. Web.

http://www.magazine.org/industry-news/press-releases/mpa-press-releases/mpa/2013-pivotal-year-magazine-media-advertising-6

Bazilian, Emma. "The Debate With Controversial Magazine Covers Is Alive and Well | Adweek." AdWeek. N.p., 2 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/debate-controversial-magazine-covers-alive-and-well-155400

Croteau, David, and William Hoynes. "Chapter 5: Media and Ideology." Media Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2014. 181. Print.

"Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women [Trailer] - Available on DVD."YouTube. YouTube, 12 Mar. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY

Pilot Season Cancelled

At the 2014 Television Critics Association press tour, held on January 13^th, Fox Chairman Kevin Reilly stated that “We are going to be bypassing pilot season,” and accompanied the declaration with a sign that read “R.I.P. Fox Pilot Season 1986-2013” (Andreeva). It seems like a bold and definitive move for the broadcasting network, one that if it works could yield great results for the company. Pilot season is the time of the year around spring when networks call for hundreds of pitches for new shows and then slowly cull the pitches down to less than a hundred scripts, then about 20 pilot episodes. Depending on how well the pilot episodes end up, some of the pilots may lead to a short series order, and then depending on how well they are received, a full season. It’s a massive and complex process that sees more failures than successes. All those failures add up. Noah Hawley, the experienced writer and producer for Fox’s Bones and the upcoming FX series Fargo, stated that “If you do the math, each network wastes about $100 million a year between pilots they shot but didn't go forward on and series they [hastily] picked up and canceled after 10 episodes" (Rose). For an industry that values and relies on long lasting series, for ratings and for syndication, the current system seems like a waste of money, talent, and time.

Cable networks have already outpaced their broadcast competitors in that respect, making it common to develop and release news series year round and with more patience, resulting in a better hit to miss ratio for failed pilots and picked up series. Premium channels like Netflix and HBO all allow new pilots to air outside the traditional pilot season time span. Fox’s new openness to looking at the programming cycle as a year round event rather than a seasonal one releases a lot of the time constraint and talent constraint that previously plagued the pilot season. Due to every network operating on the same schedule in years past, networks would fight over the actors, writers, and producers that create the series, and would often rush the development process. Reilly pointed to FX’s Sons of Anarchy as an example of a big hit for the cable company that would more than likely would have been passed on had it been produced for the broadcast network. Between the pilot episode and the series order the lead actor was recast and much of the pilot episode reshot, things that the pilot season restraint doesn’t allow time for (Andreeva). By restructuring their development cycle Fox has the potential to increase the quality of their programming while cutting their losses.

That’s the hope, anyway. This abandonment of the pilot season model also comes with its own set of downsides. The new model forces executives in the company to limit their reach, or as Reilly said at the TCA press conference “Instead of making 10 pilots hoping to get one series on the air, I’d like to make it more 1-to-1 ratio” (Andreeva). Since Fox will be focusing more of its time and money on fewer shows it raises the pressure on these shows to be bigger hits, or rather raises the pressure on the executives of the company to only gamble on near guaranteed successes. Recent big hits like NBC’s ratings monster The Blacklist would likely have been passed on if not for the pilot season, which created the right environment to take a risk on undiscovered talent, like the series creator Jon Bokenkamp.  That’s a risk that paid off, with the show drawing 17 million viewers in 2013 (Ryan). NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt even admitted that “It probably would never have seen the air had we not made a pilot” (Rose). Although Reilly insists that they are ending pilot season and not pilot episode, the real question is whether the pilot would even have been produced if the focus was on more experienced series creators. With less series in development, that also means that any series that make it into development and do happen to fail anyway will be a bigger blow to the bottom line.

Television no doubt has changed dramatically in the even the past few years. Cable and premium channels are pushing the industry to experiment with many new methods of distribution and development, and the end of the pilot season seems like the next big trend. A lot rides on how the shift turns out for Fox, if it fails then broadcast networks will likely not take the risk again for a while, but if the new cycle is successful it could drastically alter the way in which new shows are created and brought to air. We’ll have to wait until next season to find out.

Works Cited

Andreeva, Nellie. "Fox’s Abolishment Of Pilot Season: Practical Guide To How Will It Work." Deadline.com. Deadline, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/fox-no-pilot-season-how-will-it-work/>.

Andreeva, Nellie. "TCA: Fox’s Kevin Reilly Declares His Network Is Abandoning Pilot Season." Deadline.com. Deadline, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/tca-foxs-kevin-reilly-declares-network-is-abandoning-pilot-season/>.

Rose, Lacey. "Kevin Reilly's War on TV Pilot Season: Will Other Networks Follow Fox? (Analysis)." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/foxs-kevin-reillys-war-tv-673006>.

Ryan, Joal. "Yahoo TV." Yahoo TV. Yahoo, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/the-year-s-tv-ratings-winners---losers-044159333.html>.

Netflix the New Television?

In recent years, Netflix has soared in popularity.  I know for my roommates and I we could not live without Netflix.  For those of you who do not use Netflix, it is a subscription based website that you pay a flat fee for every month.  It is filled with thousands of television shows and movies, including some of their own original content, which can be streamed either live or order a DVD to your home for no extra charge.

Like I said before, Netflix is becoming one of the most popular ways for people to stream television shows and movies.  For the 65^th Annual Emmy Awards, Netflix was nominated for fourteen awards.  According to the New York Times, this was the first time that an Internet streamed series rather than one broadcast on actual television had been nominated for an Emmy in one of the top categories, including lead actor and actress for House of Cards, (Stelter).  Personally I think it is a definitely a reflection of the times and shows that even an awards show that has been around for over a half century knows when to adapt to its audience.

When it was finally time for the actual Emmy’s and the winners were announced, Netflix took home only one award.  Even though it was just one award, it was a groundbreaking moment for not only Netflix and the Emmy’s, but for the future of how we broadcast television series.  The PBS web series, Mediatwits, discussed the Emmy’s after the winners were announced.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuOnUbd25_I)  This was the first time in history that a noncable, nonbroadcast series won a primetime Emmy.  Some people believe that because it is not a true television series in the traditional sense that it should not be eligible for an Emmy award.  Do you think that this matters?  Does it change the credibility of the awards having an Internet series win an award versus a traditional cable or network series?

Besides winning a traditional Emmy, Netflix was able to nab a Technical Emmy.  These were the 65^th annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards.  Netflix was recognized for “personalized recommendation engines for video discovery,” (Winslow).  According to Broadcasting and Cable, viewers today are largely viewing their media digitally and television needs to “speed up the pace of innovation.”  How do you mostly consume media?  What about television exclusively?  Do you agree with the above statement that traditional television needs to advance quicker in order to keep up with digital media streams?

Regarding the need for updated television systems, one of our class readings discussed the Nielsen rating system and suggested that it was outdated and needed to be phased out.  Even though the rating system said it was going to include Internet streaming in the fall, in order to accommodate online television like Netflix, another problems till remains.  The article points out how a lot of viewers not only watch these shows on playback using TiVo, but they also research actors and tweet about episodes (Vanderbilt 3).  Losing shows on the Nielsen rating system are shows that are achieving high critical acclaim.  These include Breaking Bad, Girls, and Mad Men.  Based off of this, do you think that the Nielsen rating system is out dated?  Do you think that adding online streaming, like Netflix, Hulu, and AppleTv, will have a positive impact on the Nielsen system or do you think it will not make a difference?  Is there really a way to track how many full and complete episodes each household watches on Netflix or will it only show if they clicked the link and started to watch it?

Overall I think that Netflix will continue to grow, as will other online streaming outlets.  The convenience of having a multitude of shows and movies at the click of a mouse is a wonderful thing.  And with these streams like Netflix creating their own original content, I think it is just a matter of time before we see Netflix original series being nominated for and winning multiple Emmy categories.  Online streaming is the television of the future.  While I think this is the case, I do not think live broadcast and cable television will ever die out.  I just think eventually the two will even out and exist with on other, both being equally as popular and award worthy.  What do you think?

Works Cited

PBS Media Shift.  Mediatwits #96: Netflix Wins Emmy Awards, Faces Threats…

September 27, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuOnUbd25_I

Stelter, Brian.  Netflix Does Well in 2013 Primetime Emmy Nominations.  The New

                       York Times.  July 18, 2013.

Vanderbilt, Tom.  The Nielsen Family is Dead.  Wired.com.  March 19, 2013.

Winslow, George.  …And the Technical Emmys Go to…  Broadcasting and Cable.

                       December 16, 2013.

Winners and Losers of Reality TV

by Heather Madore

Reality television has been around for decades. Like anything else, it goes through popularity waves. In 1992, MTV’s The Real World premiered, paving the way for reality television (Greene 2-3). According to a Rolling Stone interview with show’s creator Jonathan Murray, when series like Big Brother and Survivor came along in 2000, both pulling from the concepts introduced by The Real World (Greene 3), the reality TV trend blew up.

            Unfortunately, with such a saturation of competition, old staples like The Real World aren’t faring so well. According to Variety, “Since the 2011 Vegas run, ratings have steadily ticked downwards: San Diego averaged around 1.4 million viewers, and St. Thomas barely 1.1 million. The Portland season debut to under 800,000 viewers is a testament to the show not being as groundbreaking or relevant as it once was to MTV’s core audience” (Marechal 3). This season’s ratings haven’t been much better. According to tvbythenumbers.com, February 6^th’s episode premiered to less than a million viewers, compared to Duck Dynasty, during the same time slot, with 2.5 million viewers (Bibel).

            So is Duck Dynasty the new Real World? I think it is. Despite Phil Robertson’s now infamous GQ interview, the show is still going strong. According to Variety, the comments have not affected advertisers. 30 seconds during Duck Dynasty goes for $170-180,000 (Steinberg 2). According to Joel Ryan, Duck Dynasty was the second most successful cable program of 2013, beaten only by The Walking Dead (Ryan 1).

            What exactly makes Duck Dynasty so popular? On August 16, 2013, Laura Ingraham opened up The O’Reilly Factor with a monologue that looked for an answer. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcmGh-a2ZpI) According to Ingraham, 11.8 million viewers watched the season four premiere. One of her strongest points was that “The Robertson family comes across as unrehearsed, no-nonsense, and warm” (Ingraham). She goes on to mention that there are also strong themes of family and faith, and none of this seems put on for cameras. Other shows, like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, have been accused many times of being scripted. Ingraham argues that the Robertsons feel much more real, and talk about topics that aren’t usually discussed positively on reality TV, which tend to favor plot lines focusing on binge-drinking and sex. It would appear that viewers have gotten bored of the same formula of strangers+alcohol=entertainment.

            Similarly, another reality TV staple seems to be on the outs as well.  Joel Ryan called American Idol one of 2013’s TV losers, stating “for much of the 2000s, its season finale commanded an Oscar-sized audience. This past season, with one-and-done judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, Fox's humbled primetime champ settled for about one-third of what the 2013 Oscars telecast got” (Ryan). Cowell’s other show, X-Factor, is in an even worse state. Fox announced this month that X-Factor has been cancelled after only three seasons. According to Variety, X-Factor has been seeing a steady decline in ratings ever since the series premiere in 2011. “For those first two seasons, “X Factor” was the No. 3-rated broadcast reality series in adults 18-49 (behind only “American Idol” and “The Voice”), but it currently also ranks behind ABC’s “The Bachelor,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “Shark Tank,” CBS’ “Survivor” and “Amazing Race” and NBC’s “The Biggest Loser”” (Marechal).

            NBC’s The Voice, however, has been holding strong in TV ratings. The show placed 7^th and 8^th in the Top 20 Fall shows in the key 18-49 demographic (Mitovich). Gayle Falkenthal credits The Voice’s success over its predecessors to a few key differences that, in her opinion, are largely to thank for the better ratings- judge chemistry and song selection among them (Falkenthal). The Voice has more personable judges that really interact well with each other, and a more diverse and contemporary list of songs to choose from each week (Falkenthal). This likely contributes to the younger average audience of the show, and it’s overall success.

            Although it may seem as though The Voice has staying power, I believe that, like all other good things, it will likely come to an end. Finale viewership was down 20% this last year in their key demographic. (McKay 1).  If anything, The Real World viewership has shown us that viewers don’t like too much of the same thing. Jersey Shore, a concept very similar to The Real World, has already been cancelled by MTV, despite its promising start. In fact, most MTV reality programs don’t last nearly as long as The Real World has. Comparatively, The Voice may just be riding on Idol’s coattails. I predict that, with the success of Duck Dynasty, and the decline in singing competition show ratings overall, we’re more likely to see new redneck reality shows than another singing competition anytime soon.

Works Cited

Bibel, Sara. “Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Duck Dynasty' Down But Wins Night, 'Wahlburgers', 'Workaholics', 'The Real World', 'Psych' & More.” TV By The Numbers. 6 Feb. 2014. [http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/02/06/wednesday-cable-ratings-duck-dynasty-down-but-wins-night-wahlburgersworkaholics-the-real-world-psych-more/234960/]

Falkenthal, Gayle. “Why “The Voice” is beating “American Idol” in TV ratings.” The Washington Times. 24 Apr. 2013. Web. [http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/media-migraine/2013/apr/24/why-voice-beating-american-idol-tv-ratings/].

Greene, Andy. “'The Real World' Keeps Turning: How MTV's Hit Survived to Season 29.” Rolling Stone. 4 Feb. 2014. Web. [http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/the-real-world-keeps-turning-how-mtvs-hit-survived-to-season-29-20140204]

Marechal, AJ. “The Reality of ‘Real World’: A Falling Star?” Variety. 29 Mar. 2013. Web. [http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/the-reality-of-real-world-a-falling-star-1200330907/]

Marechal, AJ. “Fox Cancels ‘The X Factor’ After Three Seasons” Variety. 7 Feb. 2014. Web. [http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/the-x-factor-cancelled-by-fox-after-three-seasons-1201091930/]

McKay, Hollie. “Sound off: Reality singing shows belting out the ratings blues.”  Fox News. 8 Jan. 2014. Web. [http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/01/08/sound-off-reality-singing-shows-belting-out-ratings-blues/]

Mitovich, Matt Web. "Fall TV Ratings Champs." Yahoo TV. 18 Dec. 2013. Web.

Ryan, Joel. "The Year's TV Ratings Winners and Losers." Yahoo TV. 17 Dec. 2013. Web.

Steinberg, Brian. “‘Duck Dynasty’: Advertisers Paying Big Bucks Despite Controversy.” Variety. 7 Jan. 2014. Web. [http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/duck-dynasty-advertising-remains-strong-despite-controversy-1201034033/]

“Laura Ingraham Knows What Makes Duck Dynasty So Successful.” YouTube. 16 August 2014.  Web. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcmGh-a2ZpI]

'Breaking Bad' Breaks TV Viewing Records

Stephanie Clark

     There are a few factors that I keep in mind when finding a good show to watch. It has to have a creative aspect to it, it has to grab and keep my attention from the beginning, and it has to be somewhat suspenseful. If it doesn’t cause me to anticipate what will happen next, chances are I won’t watch it. Many television shows over the years have done a good job at keeping their viewers hooked, and some shows have failed in that aspect. Gaining an audience can be a challenge, but one show that certainly gained a loyal audience is AMC’s Breaking Bad, and I had to check it out for myself.

     

     For those of you who have not seen the show, it is about a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has lung cancer and decides to cook meth in order to provide for his family with the thought that he may not have much longer to live. After constantly hearing people talk about how addicting Breaking Bad is, it was time to see what all the hype was about. I thought to myself, “how could a show be this popular? How did it gain such a huge audience?” I eventually watched all 5 seasons of it and now I understand why it was so popular. It probably took me only a week to finish it because I was so anxious to find out what happened next.

     

     According to the article by Joal Ryan titled The Year’s TV Ratings Winners & Losers, when Breaking Bad ended this past September, it had around 10.3 million viewers and it started with 3 million. It was able to gain an audience overtime and its viewers stayed loyal to the show. So what was their strategy on gaining a following?

     

     First off, the marketing tactics of the show were on point. There are some shows that can learn a thing or two about marketing from Breaking Bad. An article I found by Amanda Batista called 4 Keys to Cooking up Great Marketing Habits From Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan states that the show is officially on record in the 2014 Guinness World Records Book as the most critically acclaimed show on television and also won an Emmy. During an interview, creator Vince Gilligan shared some very valuable marketing tips. One piece of advice he gave was to treat your content communications like “teasers” to encourage audience interaction (Batista). “The teaser is the first 3-5 minutes of the show and it is written to hook the audience so that you have to watch the rest of it,” Gilligan stated. He also advised not to get bogged down by the never-ending content gate debate and to think of ways to innovatively share bite-sized information that gives your audience a taste of what’s to come. I thought this was excellent advice and I now know why Gilligan decided to go with the teasers in the beginning of each episode. It left me obsessed with finding out what happens next in this incredibly twisted show. Also, because the show aired on AMC, which is a cable channel, it had the opportunity to be very creative and slowly build its audience over the show’s run because cable shows don’t rely as much on high ratings like broadcast shows do.

       

     Although I have yet to see the finale considering part 2 of season 5 isn’t on Netflix yet, I have heard so many adjectives to describe it. “Amazing, unpredictable, shocking,” just to name a few. According to the article, Broadcasters Ambushed By Hysteria Around ‘Breaking Bad’ Final, the night of the show’s finale seemed to overtake broadcast TV. NBC’s popular show Saturday Night Live even contributed to Breaking Bad’s hype by giving it a plug on its season debut. “The creators of ‘Breaking Bad’ are bringing it, we think, to an exquisite end,” Chief Executive Officer of AMC Josh Sapan said in an interview. AMC has syndication rights to the program according to Sapan. Vince Gilligan and production partner Sony Corp. are already working on a spinoff called Better Call Saul, about the warped lawyer played by Bob Odenkirk. As the finale came closer, the show topped researcher Imdb.com’s Movie Meter. It also generated 1.24 million tweets, the most of any program on TV, according to Social Guide, the unit of Nielsen that measures social media (Palazzo).

     

     Breaking Bad has benefitted from word of mouth and critical acclaim. The strategy for gaining and keeping an audience was genius in my opinion. The show has merchandise available to purchase including episodes on Blu-ray, which can be helpful for the people like myself who decided to watch the show after it aired, and I now feel the Breaking Bad effect.

Works Cited

1.     Ryan, Joel. "The Year's TV Ratings Winners and Losers." Yahoo TV. 17 Dec. 2013. Web.

2.     Batista, Amanda. "4 Keys to Cooking Up Great Marketing Habits From Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan." Its All About Revenue The Revenue Marketing Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

3.     De Moraes, Lisa. "Broadcasters Ambushed By Hysteria Around ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale." Deadline. 30 Sept. 2013. Web.

4.     Finale Draws Record Viewership on AMC." Bloomberg Luxury. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.