In May of this year, Jefferson Graham wrote an article for USA Today regarding how vitally important social TV platforms are to the success of a television program, For TV networks, social is hugely important. There is no disputing the value of a viewer posting comments about TV shows on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. But there would be no posts without the mechanism that drives the audience to the program in the first place, the promotional spot and paid "tune-in" advertising.
Is there anything more central to the lifeblood of a network than its promotional campaigns? They invest millions in writers, director and cast, then spend untold hours screening it at their Las Vegas-Austin-Los Angeles facilities. Then, when it comes time to promote the series premiere there is another significant investment of resources that includes producing the advertising spots and utilizing their own valuable airtime as well as purchasing a schedule. If only there was a technique to assist with the promotional campaign and pinpoint the ideal target for the new series.
Enter TRA's (TiVo Research and Analytics) Viewer Segmentation report. With this report a target can be created for a single program, a network, a genre or a daypart. Then a network's promotional team can determine what else heavy viewers of that segment are watching. Promoting your new series that is CSI meets The Young and the Restless? Want to reach a rabid NHL viewer, now that the season is on life support and perhaps they would enjoy another sporting event? TRA tells you where to find them.
Let's review some of last season's broadcast hits and see what else those viewers are watching. I took a look at one series premiere from each of the broadcast network's fall 2011 season to see what else is popular with their audience. Besides other Fox sitcoms, New Girl fans enjoy CW's Gossip Girl and 90210 as well as ABC's Revenge. As for ABC's Once Upon A Time, those fans are enjoying SYFY's Merlin (makes sense) and Fringe on Fox. Grimm viewers on NBC prefer more stark fare like Fox's Bones and AMC's The Walking Dead. And the fans of CBS's 2 Broke Girls enjoy a little reality on the side with ABC's Shark Tank and Fox's Kitchen Nightmares appearing in their DVR queue.
Further analysis of these four programs reveals that the most loyal viewers account for