Idol Chatter: Does "American Idol" Still Have "It," or Is It Now Just a Fading Star? - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

Season 9 of quotAmerican Idolquot started off with a flurry of buzz following Simon Cowell39s announcement that this season will be his last But once that short term buzz wore off and shortterm it was amp8211 with just a threeday spike in online chatter the larger question is what type of success quotAmerican Idolquot is likely to have this season and beyondTo shed light I have looked at the word of mouth trends for quotAmerican Idolquot over the past several seasons The results show that while the dynamics of its word of mouth have shifted it remains a force to be reckoned with Predictions of its demise may well be prematureThere is no question that quotIdolquot was a larger word of mouth force in the mid 2000s and lost some of its buzz by 2008 and 2009 More specifically the percentage of people talking about quotIdolquot while it is on the air dropped by nearly 40 from 2007 to 2008 and then stabilized at about the same level over the course of last season However in a sign of resiliency quotAmerican Idolquot WOM peaked at higher levels during season finale week of 2009 than the 2008 season In fact the 2009 peak matches what was seen during the end of the 2007 seasonFurther quotIdolquot remained the most talked about TV show during the January amp8211 May months when it is on the air during each of those seasons far ahead of its nearest competitor What is more it has been among the most talked about brands across any category during the time it39s on the air amp8211 it was the 20th most talked about brand in 2007 dropping somewhat to a still respectable 27 in 2008 and the same in 2009What has changed more dramatically than the volume of word of mouth over the past few years has been the dynamics of WOM about quotIdolquot In the mid 2000s it was a show that people watched and then talked about the next day at work or school In 2007 for example the majority of conversations about quotIdolquot were with coworkers or friends while fewer than half 45 were with family In each of the succeeding seasons conversations with coworkers have dropped with 200939s levels being less than half of what we saw in 2007 Meanwhile by 2009 fully twothirds of conversations about quotIdolquot were with family members As a result we see that the venues where conversations take place have shifted as well and an overwhelming majority of talk about quotIdolquot now takes place at home with a corresponding drop in conversation at work or schoolAt the same time as conversation about quotIdolquot was beginning to shift from the workplace or school to home the quotqualityquot of WOM began to improve dramatically In 2007 conversation was far more polarized than it was last season amp8211 with conversations about the program more likely to be positive and less likely to be negative in toneSo what does this mean quotAmerican Idolquot may not be the buzz machine it once was a show that dominated not only when it came to ratings but water cooler conversation as well What is has become however is a show that people still watch and discuss as a family And as that transition has taken place the conversations have turned far more positive What will happen to the show after Simon Cowell retires is hard to predict But for now quotIdolquot still enjoys both a quantity and quality of word of mouth that most television networks would gladly acceptEd Keller CEO of the Keller Fay Group has been called quotone of the most recognized names in word of mouthquot The publication of Keller39s book The Influentials has been called the quotseminal moment in the development of word of mouthquot Ed can be contacted at ekellerkellerfaycomRead all Edamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Ed Keller MediaBizBloggersFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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Idol Chatter: Does "American Idol" Still Have "It," or Is It Now Just a Fading Star? - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

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Idol Chatter: Does "American Idol" Still Have "It," or Is It Now Just a Fading Star? - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

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