Social TV viewership
3rd February 2011Recent TV viewership figures have shown that audience ratings are growing, and not only that, all the TV we are watching is helping to make us more sociable both on and offline.
Speaking from personal experience, Monday mornings in the office throughout the autumn months meant it was time for an X-Factor performance dissection. More recently, the Britney Glee special was ‘liked’ all over Facebook, while for the last few weeks, the show capturing everyone’s attention has been Channel 4’s ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’.
After seeing numerous comments on Facebook and in the press, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and since watching, I have to say it’s given me a good few hours worth of social media and real world chatter.
The programme is a great example of how TV and social media are fuelling each other – and although there has been outrage at the tone and language used to describe the people in the show on Twitter and Facebook, #bigfatgypsyweddings was a trending topic in the UK and worldwide for hours. All of this will no doubt have played a role in the ratings for the show (which peaked at 8.2 million) being among the highest Channel 4 has seen in the last three years.
So despite predictions that social media would contribute to the demise of TV, it is actually complementing it. And rather than us being a nation of couch potatoes watching TV in isolation, our much loved medium has had a boost thanks to online channels which mean we can easily air our views and get involved in the latest TV scandal.
