A Study of Online Audience Usage in Conjunction With a

Large Market, Daytime, Magazine Show

A Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty

of

Drexel University

by

Colleen M. McAndrew

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree

of

Master of Science in Television Management

June 2011
 Acknowledgements

Thank you to Drexel University for all the resources made available through various
library resources. I would like to acknowledge the guidance of my supervisor Terry
Maher for his expert knowledge in this field of study. He played a pivotal role in
discovering additional research information and helping with calculations. I also thank
Professor Albert Tedesco for his continual direction of developing this thesis and helping
me to build research tools necessary to complete this analysis.

I would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr. Katherine Dolgos and Dr. John D. McAndrew
for editing multiple revisions and helping me to clarify my thoughts and ideas into a
proper academic research thesis.

I am thankful for all whom agreed to interviews for this thesis. It was your real-world
application of these ideas that fuels my passion to further investigate this topic and help
to continue its evolution.

Lastly, I wish to acknowledge my fellow Television Management friends. I feel indebted

to you all for your constant support and constructive criticism through the many phases of
developing this thesis.
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Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................v

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................vi

1. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1

1.1 Statement of Problem.....................................................................................................1

1.2 Background and Need....................................................................................................3

1.3 Purpose of Study............................................................................................................6

1.4 Significance to the Field................................................................................................7

1.5 Definitions......................................................................................................................8

1.6 Ethical Considerations.................................................................................................10

2. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................11

3. METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................25

3.1 Research Questions......................................................................................................25

3.2 Setting..........................................................................................................................26

3.3 Sample..........................................................................................................................26

3.4 Measurement Instruments............................................................................................27

3.5 Limitations...................................................................................................................28

4. RESULTS....................................................................................................................30

5. CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................45

5.1 Discussion....................................................................................................................46

5.2 Limitations...................................................................................................................50

5.3 Recommendations for Future Research.......................................................................50

LIST OF REFERENCES...................................................................................................51

Appendix A: Most Viewed Video Segment Categories....................................................55

Appendix B: The Most Viewed Videos Links Shared on Social Media...........................56

Appendix C: Percentage of Page Views by the Hour – One Full Day..............................58

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Appendix D: Percentage of All Types of Access to Website............................................59

Appendix E: Top 50 Inbound Referring Websites............................................................60

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List of Tables

1. Most Viewed Video Segment Categories......................................................................31

2. The Most Viewed Videos Links Shared on Twitter - 56 Links Shared.........................34

3. The Most Viewed Videos Links Shared on Facebook - 26 Links Shared.....................35

4. All Types of Referring Websites.................................................................................. 37

5. Top 50 Inbound Referring Websites............................................................................. 37

6. Correlation Coefficient for Nielsen Same Plus Same Day Rating and Overall
Daily Page Views.................................................................................................40

7. Correlation Coefficient for Nielsen Same Plus Same Day Rating and Daily
Change in Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers..................................................41

8. Correlation Coefficient for Overall Daily Page Views and Daily Change in
Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers...................................................................42
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Abstract

A Study of Online Audience Usage in Conjunction With a

Large Market, Daytime, Magazine Show
Colleen M. McAndrew
Albert Tedesco

With the rapid expansion of the Internet, consumers have more access to new

resources offering anytime/anywhere-viewing opportunities. It is imperative for

television program providers to understand their product and their consumers by

analyzing the viewers’ habits, practices, and behaviors. In order to understand this

relationship, this research examines how an audience is using online media provided by a

large market, daytime, magazine television show.

A case study was conducted with the collection of data through web analytic

programs such as Omniture and organized using Excel to review the following research

questions:

1.Who is the audience of the television show?

2.How is the audience using the show’s website?

3.How is online usage correlated with traditional television viewing?

The results of this case study gave insight to the demographics of the audience

and the most popular video topics. In reference to website usage, peak hours of website

usage and inbound websites were also researched. Correlation coefficients between

traditional television viewing and online usage as well as website page views and social

media usage were calculated to determine the relationship between different and similar

media.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Over the years 2000-2010, the viewing audiences of television shows have moved

to an online viewing experience. This may include full episodes, individual segments,

extra footage available only online, and/or other exclusive content. Consumers are

viewing more minutes of television per day, forming new habits and developing new

ways to access content. One has to consider how this is affecting traditional television

viewing, advertising, programming, and show production. This new era of television

viewing will present unknown and unforeseen challenges to which the responses will lead

to innovative solutions and new opportunities for the television industry. These new

challenges present the industry with the questions of how to obtain, maintain, and retain

viewers.

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

With the rapid expansion of the Internet, consumers have more access to new

resources offering anytime/anywhere-viewing opportunities with resources like Wi-Fi

Hotspots and Smartphones. It is imperative for television program providers to

understand their product and their consumers by analyzing the viewers’ habits, practices,

and behaviors. In order to understand this relationship, this research examines how an

audience is using online media provided by a large market, daytime, magazine television

show.

“What does it mean to be a media star today? Is it about household viewers of

Twitter followers? Breadth or depth? Mass appeal or cult appeal?” (Poniewozik, 2010a,

p. 51). James Poniewozik (2010a) made this statement following the 2010 late-night

battle between Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno. Jay Leno held the number one rating

nightly, but due to contracts and previous agreements, Conan O’Brien was awarded the

Tonight Show during the height of Jay Leno’s run. Mr. O’Brien’s television ratings were

lower but his online audience was large, engaged, and passionate for their host.
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All formats and genres of television are now going through major transitions. One

of the greatest challenges is the Internet, which has challenged other industries and has

finally taken a hold on the television industry. Studies of the television industry have

shown that overall television viewing has risen over the recent years, but the magnitude

of channel choices, the opportunity to view content online, and the ability to time-shift,

are all factors that have triggered a fall in ratings for all content providers. Shows used to

be made for the mass audience, but some have now been developed to focus on a small

niche market, either within a genre or demographic. However, television is still a very

powerful tool, and it still holds the power to motivate, to captivate, and to bring together

the mass audience.

The problem here is not the new technology, but rather how to embrace it, to

adapt it, and to incorporate it into the business and the shows. There have been other

companies in other industries that had to contend with the changes technology has

brought to their industries. Those companies that embraced the necessary changes have

gone on and evolved, while the companies that resisted or fought to adapt change

struggled, ceased to be or are far behind their competitors.

This case study is focused on a magazine-formatted television show, locally

produced in a large market. Television shows have already incorporated online media and

are constantly developing new ideas. For example, the efforts of Jimmy Fallon were

awarded with a Webbie Person of the Year Award:

in recognition of his enthusiastic embrace of the Internet to connect with

his fans. With his "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" blog and Twitter feed,
Jimmy Fallon is one of celebrities and TV personalities most actively
engaging with his audience online, even hosting a contest allowing fans to
choose the winning logo for Late Night, as part of his video blog series
leading up to the show's debut. He regularly features exclusive content
online and is one of a handful of celebrities to use the Web and television
as a fully integrated experience. (“Welcome to the Webbie Awards,”
2009)

1.2 BACKGROUND AND NEED

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Consumers feel the need to participate and share their experience, as if they were

a part of a show or community (“What Consumers Want,” 2009). This idea has not

changed, but with emerging technology and new ways of engaging communication,

consumers can now participate in real-time and in more ways. Nosenkis (2009) stated

that “they want to interact, they want to be able to create content.” Research Director for

WCAU, Joan Erle keeps in mind that the consumers are in control (personal

communication, 2010). They decide when, where, and how they wish to get the

information or entertainment the stations provide them.

With the Internet becoming widely accessible and more people being able to use

it on-the-go from many different locations, the potential for television to grow

exponentially with its online capabilities exists. With faster and better Internet access

becoming more widespread and affordable, how people use it is going to change. Smart

mobile phones are a key technology to investigate in this scenario as they are being

rapidly consumed by users and are changing the relationship between a user their mobile

device. These smart phones will become more advanced than they are now, and their

capabilities will grow. This may be a new frontier of mobile-only viewing or producing

content exclusively for the mobile phones (Halliday, 2011).

In addition to mobile phones, the Internet has become a very important platform

by which to deliver content. There has been a shift to web-based entertainment on

television as well as other media the user has gathered (Boxee, 2009). The Internet can

bring data to one platform for the consumer to enjoy as well as aggregate more

information from different areas and link users to sources the user may not have come

across on their own. In 2010, there was the emerging concept of Internet connected

television, where all your media needs would be housed in one box, a theoretical idea

originated by Henry Jenkins (Jenkins, 2006).

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Nielsen’s Three Screen Report (2009) identified the trend of using technology

while watching television is already in effect, but will grow as the audience finds new

ways to connect and to interact with the show (Hunt, 2009). Harnessing and utilizing the

power of the Internet and incorporating it to excite and to engage your fans and deliver to

them more content and information has potential to be an important factor in the future of

the television industry. This case study focuses on how the current audience is using

these new online and social capabilities and how they are using them in conjunction with

the show. Research for this study was obtained through following trends in social media

usage and web site usage in conjunction to traditional Nielsen ratings, to depict engaged

fans of the show.

As technology evolves and people begin to use it in different ways, television

managers need to listen to their concerns with a product and watch how they are

inventing new ways to use a product. The functionality of a popular social networking

site, Twitter, would not be as it is now if it the developers did not listen to its users.

Johnson (2009) reveals the idea of when talking to somebody or replying to their

message, the addition of the ‘@’ symbol was an idea of a user. In its original design, the

creators may not have known Twitter would be used as a means of real-time conversation

within an extended social network. Johnson (2009) believes it was not about what Twitter

was doing for the user, but what the user was doing to Twitter. This is a good example of

a user-generated idea, which has changed not only Twitter, but also other social media,

such as Facebook, using a similar concept and practice.

With all these different platforms available to deliver and to receive content, it is

important to utilize many of the platforms and not just focus on one. By using different

media, you can maximize the number of participants as well as take advantage of each

medium’s capabilities. Each one has something different to offer.

Using the different types of media is important but the most important objective is

not to forget about the original product while offline. A former web content producer for
 2
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, kept his website in perspective by

acknowledging that regardless of the hilarious blog posts or behind the scenes videos

posted on the website, most of the people are coming to the site to watch clips or full

episodes of the show (A. Bleyaert, personal communication, December 16, 2009). With

the 2010 late night shuffle between O’Brien and Leno, it became apparent that without a

successful on-air product, there cannot be a website that accompanies it. As the on-air

product of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien ceased to exist, so did the daily

website and other related materials accompanying the show.

The online material can act as a way to draw the viewer back to the original

offline product by driving them back to the television, if that is what the intention is. Joan

Erle states that the quickest way to drive up ratings is not to win over new viewers, but

have existing viewers consume more of your content (personal communication, 2010).

The show is reaching the same viewers but more frequently, through additional means

possibly not offered through the television but online.

One good example in the television media of how and why an active audience is

important is The Colbert Report. It was through Stephen Colbert and his show that

audience participation hit a new high and demonstrated how powerful an audience can

be. With the help of his ‘nation,’ or loyal viewers and followers, they voted his name to

be the new name of a bridge, a school annex, as well as a space station. He even

prompted his ‘nation’ to purchase his Christmas album in order to beat the very popular

rapper Kanye West’s, album that came out on the same date. It is a give-and-take

relationship, where Colbert gives his audience a task or mission, and whatever the

outcome, he takes it to air and works with it (McCarthy, 2009).

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY

Having an active and engaged audience is important because it enhances the

relationship and leads to loyalty as well as more productive advertising because the
 3
audience is actually there and paying attention, and they value the show’s opinion and

trust the host. In 2009, Conan O’Brien briefly left “the broadcast model, which measures

success by the absolute number of viewers, and entered the niche-media model which

measures success by the intensity of your following” (Poniewozik, 2010a, p. 51). During

the late night shakeup, Conan O’Brien fans took to social media to develop creative ideas

to support Conan. In the end, it did not factor in keeping him at NBC, but it may have had

an impact on how intensely other networks and cable companies wanted him in the future

(Carter 2010).

An online presence and online audience are just the tip of the iceberg for a TV

entity. The Internet has many things that TV can’t offer or hope to ever compete with and

is a whole new medium with untold possibilities (A. Bleyaert, personal communication,

December 16, 2009). One value the Internet possesses is that it makes the show a more

complete experience, one that is outside the norm of just a television show on its own,

through offering more in-depth content about characters or additional information that

did not fit within the time constraints held by television. Gavin Purcell, supervising

producer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, believes that there can be super fans who will

help spread and pass around the content through social networking or word-of-mouth,

creating something bigger than show could have done by itself (personal communication,

December 22, 2009). These super fans want to feel special and become a part of the show

to give them that excitement of feeling they are connected to something, be it a TV show,

a personality, or something else.

This thesis examines the audience of a television show and how they are using the

provided website and social media in conjunction with the website.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE TO THE FIELD

The research in this study is significant because Internet viewing has been

on the rise and is projected to steadily increase (Nielsen 2009). Budgets are being
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expanded following the 2009 recession and attention is being paid to online or

social efforts (Williamson, 2011). Departments within media companies are

growing including online research, online advertising, social media, social

advertising, and more. Understanding the online arena may lead to more viewers,

more engaged viewers, and possibly a higher return on their investment

concerning online advertising. With all the different options available for

entertainment, it is becoming more difficult to attract the mass audiences that

once drove media. In the Golden Age of television, 1945-1060, there were only a

few channels for users to select from; currently there are thousands of channels

and other competing sources of entertainment (Shanks, n.d.). Knowing how to use

available resources may help a product stand out among the rest in this highly

competitive media landscape. Users’ habits are continuously changing with the

evolution and development of new media devices (J. Erle, personal

communication, 2010). This case study lends one small piece to the intricate

puzzle of understanding the audience and their online habits through identifying

the audience and identifying patterns or habits of their online usage.

1.5 DEFINITIONS

Large Market, Daytime, Magazine Show – The show under analysis is a locally-

produced television show that is aired in a top Designated Market Area [DMA] in the

United States. The time of day that it is recorded and aired, 10:00 am and 11:00 am

respectively, falls in the day part of daytime television. It is organized as a magazine

show focusing on information obtained through on-air interviews, product exhibition, and

cooking demonstrations. It is a daily show that is usually divided into five main segments

that range in topics. Each day is different, but there are guests that reappear frequently.
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Website – The show has its own dedicated pages within the large market news station’s

website. These pages are interconnected and are designed with the branding elements of

the on-air product. On these pages, each show segment is cut into its own video with a

small description and active link to the product’s website. It is updated daily and a

segment remains in the main player stream for about a week, but the page’s uniform

resource locator (url) remains active for many years. Usually, it takes about an hour after

the show has completed airing for the segments to appear online. On the main page of the

website, there is a designated spot for music guests as well as another spot for an on-

location reporter. Also, there is a daily recipe that coincides with the chef of the day that

includes written ingredients and instructions as well as the video of the chef preparing the

dish. Each video or article has the ability for comments to be made by the online viewers.

Additionally, there is a separate links page, an upcoming guest list for the week, active

contests, and information about how to be in the audience.

Social Media – In this case study, the show has dedicated Facebook and Twitter accounts

distributing links to videos, show updates, extra footage, and more. Ron Jones

explains social media as “a category of online media where people are

talking, participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking online”

(Jones, 2009). With social media,

it's easy to share your ideas, photos, videos, likes and

dislikes, with the world at large - and find out what they
think of them. You can find friends, business contacts and
become part of a community or a bunch of different
communities. Social media gives you what TV never could -
a chance to be engaged and engage others .(Jones, 2009)

Social Media incorporated many applications, but for the scope of this study and of this

paper, this researcher will only be referring to these two applications of social media:

Facebook and Twitter.

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DVR and Time-Shifting – Digital Video Recorder [DVR]:

“is a consumer device that allows the viewer to pause and

rewind any broadcast, cable or satellite TV program as well
as record and play back selected programs. An order of
magnitude more flexible than VCRs, an entire season of
programs from one or more favorite series can be
recorded.” (Definition of: DVR, n.d.)

With the advent of DVRs, time-shifting of programs around the clock allows for

programs to be watched at anytime demanded by the user. Time-shifting occurs when the

user “record[s] a video or audio program when it is broadcast and

watch[es] it at a later time” (Definition of: timeshifting, n.d.).

1.6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The researcher has received permission from all interviewed subjects to

use their quotations and ideas to support the findings. The station of the television

show in this case study has given their written permission and approval to use

their systems of measurement and to publish the results in this study while

maintaining their anonymity.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The current state of television today is continuously changing. As with all

technology, the moment it makes it debut on the market, it is already obsolete. Television

and technology are merging in new ways and both are fighting to stay ahead of the

competition. As James Poniewozik (2010b) claims all media are “stuck between a dying

old model and a yet-to-be-invented new one” (p. 26). The transition to and development

of the new model are causing changes within the structure of television and media in

order to maintain their profits (Gruenwedel, 2009a).

In past years, television was in its Golden Era and other media fell far behind in

market share and revenues (Shanks, n.d.). James Poniewozik (2010b) references

contributing factors to how and why television is currently struggling to make profits,

including cable, DVR, and online media stealing viewers being the most predominant.

These alternative media sources are detracting viewers from the original ‘live’ airing, in

which advertisers pay according to how many viewers are watching their 30-second

commercial spots. With fewer viewers, stations may charge less and not be able to

receive the same profits they used to.

Former NBC Universal President-CEO, Jeff Zucker, has been quoted many times,

notably by Brian Steinberg (2009), “the only sure way to declare defeat is to say, I’m

going to keep doing it the same old way” (p. 1). Zucker has built a reputation for turning

troubled shows into profitable ones, with the best example being his work on The Today

Show (Carter 2010).

Other media critics, have also alluded to network shows ‘playing it safe’ by

keeping with the same format for shows that was established in the era when television

was the dominant medium, the 1950s (Shanks, n.d.). In a new era of heavy competition

for viewers’ attention, following an old model will often bring short-term success and
 2
possibly minimize the damage when a show or decision fails (“Playing It Safe Again”,

2009).

In this time of change, companies have tried to adopt different strategies hoping

they have developed the winning combination of programming and advertising in order

to gain viewers and accumulate high profits. Brian Steinberg (2009) discloses the

strategies of two rival networks where NBC is relying on its cable stations, while CBS

holds strong with the mass-market appeal model. Steinberg supports this statement by

revealing NBC is working to keep their costs in line while the consumer habits shift with

the technology. CBS President-CEO, Lesli Moonves, mentions at “CBS we believe that

the future of any business is dependent on its popularity with the various customers it

serves” (as cited in Steinberg, 2009, p. 1). Lastly, Fox has looked to develop a new

revenue stream similar to how the cable stations operate. James Poniewozik (2009b)

reported that Fox developed a deal with Time Warner Cable for them to pay Fox a

retransmission fee for Fox’s over-the-air signal similar to cable stations where a

percentage of the subscription fee for users would be allocated to Fox.

Every company has a slightly different strategy when it comes to marketing or

structuring their operations, but one common trend over the past years was the

development of a social media budget (“Ad Dollars,” 2009, para 3). A larger percentage

of marketing budgets have been allocated to build an image on-line through social media

and other forms of online content. According to an eMarketer article, “advertising

spending on the top social network and blogging sites more than doubled, jumping from

$49 million in August 2008 to $108 million in August 2009” (“Ad Dollars,” 2009, para.

2). One of the contributing factors in the shift of advertisers away from these systems

includes the increased use of social media in the 21st century. eMarketer also reports the

Nielsen Company measured substantial growth of time spent on social networks up from

6% in August 2008 to 17% in August 2009 (“Ad Dollars,” 2009, para 1).
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Jon Gibs, VP of Media and Agency Insights for Nielsen’s online division, claims

advertisers had “significant concerns” with social media in the past (“Ad Dollars,” 2009,

para 3). As the Internet developed, so did the metrics used to measure web activity and

the audience of website users. Standardized measurements were developed, such as time

spent on site, number of visitors, etc., and were used across all websites to equally

compare their usage. Without common metrics across all their campaigns, advertisers

were weary of the Internet because they could not accurately calculate their Return on

Investment (ROI), or there was very minimal return (Gruenwedel, 2009b). Another

reason why advertisers or marketers first hesitated to use the web is the fragmentation of

an audience. Erik Gruenwedel (2009b) is quoted saying, “media executives said the

popularity of Hulu.com, TV.com and the digital video recorder for repurposed television

content and select films underscores the changing dynamic of viewers that’s impacting

advertising revenue and corporate financials.”

Standard Metrics for the online or Interactive Industry became the focus in 2008

when the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) launched new measurement guidelines in

order to determine clear, consistent definitions of metrics. The goal of these standards

was to produce greater accuracy and reliability of all forms of online audience

measurement leading a higher confidence among advertisers and higher allocations of

budgets, (“IAB Launches,” 2008).

With online media, the audience is cut-up into fragments and with “the

proliferation of content and the fact that you can get it in different ways” does not help,

testifies Chris Fitzgerald, VP-Group Director at Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest as cited in

Steinberg, 2010 (para. 6). Unlike traditional television where the viewer only has one

choice of how to receive their content through their television set, online the viewer has

many options; multiple websites to stream from or download links. By having different

options, it made the audience widespread and difficult to attract to one central viewing

location. With the development and adoption of Hulu, YouTube, and station websites, the
 4
confidence of when predicting viewers has risen and advertisers can more easily spend

their budget and calculate their ROI.

When looking at entertainment companies’ strategies, there are many notable

differences, which can carry over into their marketing plans. The development of Key

Performance Indicators (KPI) or a way to measure performance within the companies

specified industry varies from one campaign to another making it difficult to compare

and contrast company performance (KPI Definition, n.d.). One of the most popular

metrics is total number of viewers and/or rating and share. This is the most popular

because advertising revenue depends on these figures. The higher the rating, the more a

show can charge for a commercial during that show’s time slot. Brian Steinberg (2010)

ranks the competitive landscape of late-night television by total number of viewers: Leno

5.1 million, Letterman 4.2 million, Fallon 1.4 million, Kimmel 1.7 million, Ferguson 1.9

million, Jon Stewart 1.4 million, Colbert 1.1 million, Chelsea Handler 818,000, and

Lopez 1.2 million. If this were to be the most important measurement to a network or

cable station, according to these reported numbers Jay Leno would have been ahead

every evening during this measurement period. According to Steinberg (2010) the range

of advertising money being received during the reported shows above is between $271

million and $9 million.

There are other important factors to consider when determining the importance to

advertisers. Breaking the demographics of viewers into smaller groups can develop a

different ranking among similar shows. To advertisers, the 18-34 demographic is

considered a young audience who has yet to develop loyalty to a particular brand, making

them more susceptible to advertising. According to advertisers, this is one of the hardest

demographics to reach because every brand is fighting for their attention through

different media and they have yet to develop buying habits. Rearranging the ordering of

shows according to their median age reveals a drastically different line-up: ABC’s
 5
Nightline (55 years old), Leno (55), Letterman (54), Kimmel (52), Ferguson (52), Fallon

(50), Stewart (49), Colbert (37), Lopez (34) Conan (33); (Rosenthal 2010) and (Carter

2010).

This younger demographic is particularly interesting to advertisers because their

media consumption habits are not what typically dominates the older generations, by

watching live television. Chris Rohrs (2009) claims “nobody sits and watches a television

program anymore. Everybody is downloading programs off the Internet. And that’s a

small percentage of time compared with all the social networking everybody’s doing” (p.

A10). There are numerous ways to obtain content and advertisers are seeing their revenue

come in small pieces from all these different sites. Nielsen’s Three Screen Report (2009),

claims consumers are not permanently replacing video platforms with other sources, but

rather are adding them to their weekly schedule. Chris Rohrs (2009) supplements that

notion by stating “the notion that TV is dead is trumped by research that shows it’s never

been healthier” (p. A10). The landscape has changed, there is more competition, but there

are also numerous ways to make revenue or distribute content.

One way media consumption has changed is Americans “spend 35% more time

using the Internet and TV simultaneously than they were a year ago” raising the time

spent doing simultaneous use of the Internet and TV to 3.5 hours a month (Nielsen, 2009

p. 1). Viewers are not watching less content; they are just viewing it in different ways,

through different video platforms. The traditional ‘primetime’ for television viewing is

8:00 pm to 11:00 pm. This is the most competitive daypart because networks can make

the most off of advertising money here. Nielsen’s Three Screen Report (2009) reports a

new ‘primetime’ for online video viewing lasting from noon to 6:00 pm, peaking at 4:00

pm. This is significantly earlier than most of the big, primetime shows, but may be

important to remind viewers of upcoming episodes or to deliver content for a later time

viewing period.
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Different habits and relationships are being formed online and a large part of that

is also due to social media and its connection to television. Brian Smith (2008)

understands this relationship and states, “in a society where media not only dominates

public life but interprets life, there is a need to explore how this interplay between

traditional and alternative media will change the way people think and live” (p. 682).

People have more public access to the media and the celebrities that live in the

entertainment sphere. This new access is partly because of new direct lines of

connections to the stars through social media networks like Facebook and Twitter

(Grenier, 2010). By entering this alternative media space and sharing content, users are

redefining the purposes and uses of media itself (Smith, 2008). Historically, the most

powerful new media have changed the way we relate to one another; these media include

the Telephone, Television, and Internet (Stengel, 2009). Television is no longer a product

in which the viewers passively watch in the privacy of their own home. Viewers are now

actively watching and sharing their experience through social networks. Alternative

media guru, Tony Dowmunt states, “the concept of active participation remains alive,”

(Smith, 2008 p. 682). One of the most interesting insights about Twitter was developed

by Johnson (2009) observing, “the most fascinating thing about Twitter is not what it’s

doing to us. It’s what we’re doing to it” (p. 32). The user’s active participation with new

social media platforms allowed it to advance quickly and develop new ideas by watching

and listening to how the users were communicating on their system.

With these notions of fragmented but active audiences, James Poniewozik

(2010a) makes an interesting insight about the current state of television; “What does it

mean to be a media star today? Is it about household viewers or Twitter followers?

Breadth or depth? Mass appeal or cult appeal? … it’s not just the size of your audience-

it’s how intensely they care” (p. 51). Television advertisers are focusing their budgets on

the under 50 demographic. Developing a young, cult audience could be a potential

 7
strategy. The followings of Conan O’Brien’s “Team Coco”, and Stephen Colbert’s

“Colbert Nation”, have developed an intense connection to the hipper and brainer

Americans and have a personal investment in the stars and their media (Carter 2010).

In a similar style, Late Night host Jimmy Fallon is developing a following and

gaining popularity through “sketches that are surefire viral hits” (Regan, 2009, para. 3).

The host and the producers are embracing the Internet and making attempts to harness the

power of the technology to help gain viewers or hits on their videos. The show is taking it

one step further and getting the guests involved in various ways including Tiger Woods

playing Wii golf in Times Square, Snoop Dogg reciting a heartwarming The Grinch Who

Stole Christmas and Jude Law performing a dramatic reading of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker

Face’ (Reagan, 2009). Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Supervision Producer, Gavin

Purcell states, “everybody wants a YouTube moment. People are excited to try things

now because they know that’s the current of the Internet. Getting something exciting on

the Web is a good publicity move for them” (As cited in Reagan, 2009, para. 4). These

viral videos are a symbiotic relationship where both parties are using each other to gain

publicity, but in a new non-conventional ways (G. Purcell, personal communication,

December 22, 2009). Those who may not have viewed the original broadcast are able to

join the conversation by viewing material afterwards and participating online. This

creates an ongoing afterlife of a video that previously held a very short lifespan (Johnson,

2009).

Another way shows can develop a deep relationship with their viewers is through

the use of Twitter. Jimmy Fallon was one of the early adopters and has had great success

on building a fan-base through this media. Conan O’Brien soon adopted Twitter as a

mouthpiece to his fans when his NBC show came to an end and he was not allowed on

television for a few months. Twitter is an important part of the marketing plan because of

how active the users are. In an April 2010 study by ROI Research commissioned by

Performics, it was found that at least once a week, 33% of active Twitter users share
 8
opinions about companies or products, while 32% make recommendations, and 30% ask

for them (“One-Third,” 2010).

Social Media do not act as a silver bullet. They require work to build a successful

campaign (V. Matoni, personal communication, May 25, 2010). Every business has

developed a marketing strategy and the majority have included social media in their

marketing plan. eMarketer (2011) is predicting that by 2012, 88% of marketers will be

using social media. One of the best ways to be successful with a marketing strategy in the

modern day is to find the right balance between traditional marketing and social media

marketing. Greenburg (2009) elaborates on this idea of building a holistic marketing

strategy where social media does not stand-alone, but rather is integrated with campaigns

and platforms. Through these campaigns the company can build its voice, distribute

brand stories, and keep the conversation going even after an advertising campaign ends.

With the help of real-time communication and the ability to converse with other

users of a product or service around the world, it lead to more and better informed

customers. Consumers are becoming wiser about a product’s real performance rather than

the images displayed in a highly polished commercial. New pitfalls in advertising and

marketing have developed because of wide spread word-of-mouth. Adweek Magazine

spotlights online advertising by assessing “ads are just part of the overall experience, like

previews before a movie” (“Online Ads,” 2009, AM1). Users have come to expect

advertisements on websites. They access the web expecting a similar experience each

time and if it is changed through advertising, they will not be as receptive to the

advertisement. An example brought up in the “Online Ads” (2009) was of pushing a

message to a potential customer when they had not requested it and/or they were in the

middle of doing something else. They determined this was a losing strategy because you

are changing the experience and disturbing your user, possibly planting negative feelings

toward your brand. Targeting of brand advertisements is a popular strategy, but works

best when done correctly. Another example in “Online Ads” declares this type of
 9
advertising will ensure the ads are not boring or annoying people who may have no

interest in the subject matter.

Advertising is only one piece of the complex puzzle and advertising can and

should be supplemented by other messages, like product reviews or blogs (“Online Ads,”

2009). It is important to have additional information because the Adweek article “Online

Ads” professes the “consumer will need and crave information before making a purchase,

but they have other, more reliable means aside from advertising to do that” (p. AM1). If

some of those supplemental sources are within the advertisers control, through blogs and

discussion boards, the experience has potential to be greater with similar advertisements

later in the campaign or for other products.

To balance out a marketing plan, social media should be an important focus and

more companies are making it so by adding community managers to their teams. These

communities are very important because not only are they the customers but they feel

personally connected to the show. This new type of interaction is blurring the line

between public and private lives and behaviors. J. Meyrowitz (2009) raised this important

idea in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences:

The rise of mass television allowed hundreds of millions of people to

closely watch other people and places on a regular basis, anonymously and
from afar. Television watching altered the balance of what different types
of people knew about each other and relative to each other, blurred the
dividing line between public and private behaviors, and weakened the link
between physical location and access to social experience. (p. 32)

Many personal lives are told through social media sites, which allow constant

updates of ‘status’ allowing a user to keep a running log of thoughts, experiences, or

other behaviors. In addition, a user’s physical location and media consumption habits can

and are also being collected by other popular types of social media. Social Media and

media are easily accessible through mobile applications or widespread Wi-Fi locations,

making it easy and convenient for the user to ‘check-in’ while on the go. Personal lives

are being lived via the Internet and are not only for customers, but also for the advertisers
 10
or celebrity personas. Users can ‘follow’ celebrities or companies and keep up to the

minute on their whereabouts or other content they are sharing. These feeds are displayed

among information shared from their friends, which deepens the relationship to the

company or celebrity. ‘Tweets’ or ‘status updates’ are equally displayed leveling the

playing field between and further blurring the line.

Are social media helping to bridge the gap between the television and the viewer?

Terms like two-way conversation, viewer empowerment, prosumer, and others have been

developed to express the uses of social media. Cesar, Bulterman, Soares (2008) are

describing the television domain as a place “where person-to-person mechanisms are

reshaping the way people consume media at home and the way they interact with each

other” (p. 24:2). The new role of the user is selecting, producing, and distributing content,

with a term Janssen (2009) coined as ‘viewer empowerment.’ With viewers holding more

power than ever before, Cesar, Bulterman, Soares believe “in terms of content delivery,

user-oriented infrastructures such as peer-to-peer are being seen as alternatives to more

traditional broadcast solutions” (p. 24:1). The introduction of consumer friendly, low-

cost, high-quality video recording and editing equipment and free channels on the

Internet to distribute content, has put the power in the consumer’s hand. Janssen

introduces new terminology that meshes existing roles and words together to create the

new habits of users. ‘Prosumer’ combines produces and consumer now taking the

meaning of the consumer in the role of producer.

Cesar and Chorianopoulos (2008) studied user participation and interactivity with

television and motivating factors behind social TV by observing viewers in a controlled

but natural setting. In this study, they found “viewers react emotionally to TV content,

they record and share TV content with friends and discuss about shows either in real-

time, or afterwards” (p. 125). They continue to support the data by claiming, “most

systems focus on synchronous communication mechanism between television viewers”

(p. 125). With the rise of mobile devices and laptops entering the living room,
 11
synchronous viewing and communication can happen more easily than before. Viewers

can connect to a wide audience of viewers and converse about the show as it is

happening. Show re-runs are almost always available online after airing, making them

easy to share and continue the conversation even after an episode is off the air.

Users are mobile and on-the-go and do not want to be tethered to a computer

while enjoying other media. Smart phones, tablets, and laptops have become increasingly

popular in sales and development, and in integration with television and other media.

These devices are small, either fitting into a pocket or a backpack, and are powerful

enough to watch video, send messages, and multi-task to allow simultaneous interactions

with various media.

Buchinger, Kriglstein, and Hlayacs (2009) revealed in their comprehensive study

that Mobile TV “represents a new challenge on how to create, transfer and present

content that maximizes the consumer experience” (p. 179). There are many challenges

associated with this new format because it is very new and is still in the early adoption

phases for content providers as well as their audience. With Mobile TV, content is being

delivered directly to the viewer based on their tastes and preferences. The viewer can

possess more control over what they watch and when they watch. Personalizing what

type of content they wish to show up on their mobile devices is developing as more smart

phones being released aid this behavior.

In a study by Geerts, Cesar, and Bulterman (2008), online video sharing had

become a primary activity in such domains as YouTube, Yahoo Video, and MySpace

Video. The study observed viewers’ behaviors of how they were sharing content

depending on what genre of television they were watching. The researchers were aware

of current trends in the television industry and saw a trend that more and more viewers

were simultaneously using their laptops while watching television. One of their

observations during the study was usage and sharing was not a planned activity but

incidental. While they were watching a program something motivated them to share or
 2
talk about the incident. The study by Geerts, Cesar, and Bulterman (2008) also concluded

which genres involved more social interaction broken up by gender:

Males: comedy, sport, and science fiction

Females: comedy, soap opera, and romance

This trend closely follows the top three most shared YouTube videos being music,

comedy, and entertainment (Geerts et al, 2008).

In order to contend with the rapid changes in the Television Industry, networks

and companies are developing different plans that will allow them to remain profitable in

the future. These business models are adapting to the changing needs of the consumers

and keep a competitive landscape among networks with new ideas being developed. The

Internet, including smart phones, has become another screen for television content to be

viewed on and must be considered part of the overall strategy of a business. Key concerns

with social media and advertising online have been addressed and companies are

beginning to trust online sources as they allocated more of their budget towards these

efforts. As consumers spend more time online and are developing new behaviors it is

important to give users media that fits into their lives. Building online communities of

loyal, affluent, and young customers will be of high priority for television networks

moving forward.
 1
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The research focuses on qualitative data collected about the audience and their

web usage habits. Analyzing how the online audience is using the Internet in conjunction

with a large market, daytime, magazine show. The case study looks at the media

landscape in which the show resides at the time of study. Focusing on who is using the

website, what types of articles they are viewing, when they are using the website, from

where they are accessing, and how they are accessing it. These are important analytics

that can be used by executives of shows who are looking to build a stronger audience, or

to better understand their online audience.

The outcome of this project will be applicable to similar television shows where

the main broadcast content can be broken up into smaller topical segments to be shared

online. With the fast moving advances in technologies in the last few years, the

correlation between online and offline will continue and become stronger and more

relevant. Technology will change. How we use it, and what it will do for us as

consumers, will change too.

3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.Who is the audience of the television show?

2.How is the audience using the show’s website?

3.How is online usage correlated with traditional television viewing?

3.2 SETTING

This study was conducted over a four-month period from February 2010 through

May 2010. The only significant change was the creation of a show Twitter account,
 2
which was done just before the reporting period began. All other variables were held

constant in the nature of an evolving television show. The television is locally produced

in a large-market and airs daily at 11:00 am. The format of the show closely follows a

television news magazine show, obtained through live features including; on-air

interviews, live performances, remote shots, product exhibitions, and cooking

demonstrations.

3.3 SAMPLE

The sample for both the television ratings and online metrics were normal

consumers of the show’s entities. Nielsen records this market’s rating year round using

their Local People Meter technology, ensuring the most accurate results. Interviewees

were chosen because of their relation to similar websites and television shows as well as

their understanding of the market in which this study was being conducted. This sample

is held to the limitations that face ratings from Nielsen, but is universally used at the time

of this study.

The researcher conducted informational interviews with individuals from different

roles in the television structure. Those interviewed have significant experience working

with both traditional viewing as well as websites associated with television shows. They

also have worked many years in the television industry, understanding the television

industry’s point of view of sharing their material online and their traditional and online

consumers. These interviews included: a Supervising and Co-Producer of a late-night talk

show, a Website manager and blogger for a late-night talk show, a Research Director for

a large market station, a VP of Human Resources from a network, and a Social Media

Editor for Local Media. Each has given an insider’s look at how they view the

relationship between their website and their physical show. Although they work in

similar formats, they all treated the relationship between the television and website very

differently due to their job function and their experiences. They also gave insight to why
 3
they believe having an engaged audience is important and some ways they accomplish

that task.

The basis of the interviews focused around their thoughts on their respective

websites, how they are using them, how they believe they impact the consumer, and how

the website operates in relation to their traditional television show.

3.4 MEASUREMENTS INSTRUMENTS

In addition to personal communication depicting the media landscape in which

these shows and websites live, the researcher followed trends through popular technology

websites that aggregate news stories involving online media. These articles follow the

most cutting edge trends and are highly reputable. These websites include but are not

limited to Mashable, TechCrunch, and Cynopsis. Other sources include research firms

who supply free information to subscribers. These include but are not limited to

eMarketer, comScore, Borrell Reports, and Television Bureau of Advertising.

The data collected comes from subscription services the network subscribes to for

data analysis. These include Nielsen and Omniture. This data was organized and analyzed

using Microsoft’s Excel and mathematical functions available through the software. The

researcher used the correlation coefficient equation and determined changes and averages

through the software. Additional information about the segments was acquired from the

content management system used by the network, such as page views by time of day.

Social Network link tracking was supplied by the free analysis of bit.ly and more detailed

Twitter profile analytics were provided by TweetStats.com. Both are free services

available online to help manage and analyze social media usage.

3.5 LIMITATIONS

There are limitations to the methodology of which the researcher is aware and

while conducting this case. The limitations include the time frame of the analysis
 2
occurring over a four month time period, February to May, and may reflect seasonal

viewing and usage habits, such as lower viewership or increased online activity. Also, at

the time the data was collected in terms of social media, the Twitter account was in its

infancy having just been started the previous week and may not be a significant

contributor as it is at the current date. At the same time, other social media strategies

were being tested and developed. There is no straight A/B testing or baseline to cross-

reference collected materials.

Nielson Live Plus Same Day Ratings were utilized in this study because it is a

large-market Designated Market Area [DMA] and utilizes a local people meter for

measurement results. Nielsen ratings include ‘live’ viewing plus time-shifted

viewing that occurs before 3am after the original broadcast (Bachman,

2009). This measurement makes it difficult to determine true ‘live’ viewing or if the

program was time-shifted.

Lastly, the website being analyzed is a subgenre of the main station website so it

became difficult to differentiate unique users, time spent on site, and other shared

information, causing these areas of study to be left out of statistical analysis. All other

analyzed data is specific to the subgenre and pages within it.

 1
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS

An in-depth study of the field, highlighted by a literature review, covers the

evolving developments associated around the use of websites and television shows. To

further the innovation of a television website, a case study was implemented to look at

the specific use of a website. This case study focuses around the correlation between

Nielsen ratings of a show and measurable metrics of a website, such as page views and

sharing links through social media.

Every show has an audience, ranging from a small core group of viewers to the

larger mass population. The population is segmented in different demographic categories,

where most shows choose to focus on these smaller breakdowns of their audience. In this

case study, a Nielsen Audience Estimate for the month of April 2010 (2010) reported the

largest viewing audience of the show in the study was Men and Women 65+, accounting

for a combined total of 50%. Advertisers are generally uninterested in this group and

most Internet users do not fall in this category. Smaller percentages, in other

demographics, fit closer to the target audience of Women 25-54, which was determined

by the show’s producers. 20% of the overall audience is reported to be between the ages

of 35-49 slightly in favor of more women and an additional 20% of the audience is

reported to be between the ages of 55-64, slightly in favor of men.

To better serve the audience of a website, it is important to listen to the users’

needs and serve the audience to your best ability. One good way to understand the

audience is to use web analysis metrics to determine what they are interested in and how

they are currently using your website.

The areas of data assessed in this case study are:

1. Who is the audience?

2. How is the audience using the show’s website?

3. How is online usage correlated with traditional television viewing

 1
The front page of the website has the main video player with available segments

arranged below. The most-used feature of the website is to watch the individual taped

segments online. These segments are typically five minutes in duration, never exceeding

ten minutes. During the course of the research period, out of the 790 segments, the most

viewed segment was a fashion segment from a very well known designer displaying

vintage Hollywood fashion dresses.

In order to categorize the video content, the researcher self-categorized the

segments according to topic of interest of general theme of the video, choosing one label

for each video. With that in mind, it is important to know what are the top-viewed

segments on the website. Please refer to Appendix A for a graphical breakdown of the

segment categories. These view counts incorporate all views of the video including

directly on the site, and embedded videos on other sites, such as Facebook.

1. Most Viewed Video Segment Categories

Music Local Fashion Gardening Celebrity
Performance Community (Value; %) (Value; %) Interview
(Value; %) (Value; %) (Value; %)
Top 10
6; 60% 2; 20% 1; 10% 1; 10% N/A
Page Views
Top 20
9; 45% 5; 25% 3; 15% 2; 10% 1; 5%
Page Views

Out of the Top 10 most viewed videos, 6 out of the 10 were a music performance,

and 2 out of the 10 focused on the local community. The other categories that contributed

were 1 video including fashion and 1 video about gardening. That is not a very diverse

grouping of segment categories and there is research discussed later in this case study that

points at possible reasons why.

 2
Broadening the scope to look at the Top 20 videos includes more unique

categories. Some of the findings included: 9 out of the 20 were a music performance, 5

out of the 20 had a connection to the local community, 3 out of the 20 were a fashion

theme, 2 out of the 20 were gardening activities, and 1 out of the 20 was a celebrity

interview.

While reviewing this data, it is important to keep in mind this is a locally

produced, daytime show. There is a strong-connection to topics that pertain to the local

community and a large focus on family-friendly activities or ideas. There are a fair

amount of celebrity segments available, but it is interesting they are not the driving force

of online views in this particular case study.

All videos are uploaded online within hours of their on-air time and have the

opportunity to be viewed for one full week, beginning when they were posting on the

show’s main website. After this week, the video cannot be found on the main website

video player, but can be accessed directly through outside links or by the search feature

on the website. Social media and a deeper archive of online video content can give a

second life to video segments. After a week the videos may not be discovered through the

main website, but links shared on social media can lead potential viewers directly to the

page containing the video. This link may be shared for many months following the initial

airdate adding more play counts and spreading the word about the show or topic in

discussion to additional customers.

Social networking allows users to stay up to the minute with information of their

choosing, by selecting whom they follow or those who are in their network. During the

four months of this case study, the Twitter account connected to the show was brand new,

but still a reliable source to analyze as it delivered a growing amount of followers,

leading to page views. The Twitter and Facebook accounts were used frequently to post

segments of that day’s show, chosen by the producers. Over the 88 days where an

original show was produced, 56 video links were shared on Twitter and 26 videos were
 1
shared on Facebook out of the total 790 available videos, leading to only 10% of the

possible videos being shared through social media.

In this case study, the average video views of those segments shared on Twitter

were close to 200% greater compared to the page views of those that were not shared on

Twitter1. From these results, we can see the impact of sharing on social networks. The

number of segments not tweeted were greater than those tweeted. Also, those segments

that were not tweeted ranged from the highest page views to zero page views, which help

in not skewing the statistics. It is important to note that some of the highest pages viewed

were not shared via the show’s Twitter. Sharing a video on Twitter does not mean

instantaneous results in term of views for the shared video. Sometimes the video will still

fail to attract interest. Twitter should not be the only means of promotion and should be

incorporated in the overall marketing plan.

2. The Most Viewed Videos Links Shared on Twitter - 56 Links Shared

Links Shared Links Not Shared
(Value; %) (Value; %)
Top 10 Page Views 2; 20% 8; 80%
Top 20 Page Views 7; 35% 13; 65%
Top 50 Page Views 11; 22% 39; 78%

Appendix B has a graphical representation of the percentages of shared social

media links contributing to page views. When the segments are broken down into Top 10,

Top 20, and Top 50 page views, this breakdown allowed the researcher to see the impact

of tweeted segments by the show’s Twitter account. Through this Twitter account, there

1 Average Page Views When Shared on Twitter (154.84) /

Average Page Views When Not Shared on Twitter (84.24)
 1
were 53 links to videos shared. Of the Top 10 most viewed segments; only 2 were shared

on Twitter, thus 20%. Expanding further to the Top 20 most viewed segments; 7 out of

the 20 were shared on Twitter, bumping up the percentage to 35%. Looking at the Top 50

most viewed segments shows that 11 out of the 50 were shared on Twitter, making the

percentage 22%. This information suggests that the most viewed segments can carry their

own weight and did not need extra publicity, but sharing on Twitter can possibly increase

segments that may not have gained as much interest on their own. It cannot fully be

concluded that sharing through the show’s Twitter account allowed for significantly more

page views. Sometimes the video will still fail to attract interest.

Looking at other active social media, in this case Facebook, the results are similar.

When sharing a link on Facebook, the average of the page views when the link was

shared on Facebook increased by almost 150%.2

3. The Most Viewed Videos Links Shared on Facebook - 26 Links Shared

Links Shared Links Not Shared
(Value; %) (Value, %)
Top 10 Page Views 1; 10% 9; 90%
Top 20 Page Views 2; 20% 18; 90%
Top 50 Page Views 17; 34% 33; 66%

The show’s Facebook page was again broken down into Top 10, Top 20, and Top

50 most viewed video segments. In the Top 10, only one video was shared on Facebook,

making this 10% of the Top 10. Widening the range to Top 20, only 2 were posted on

Facebook, keeping the percentage at 10%. Out of the Top 50, 17 of those segments were

posted on Facebook, raising the percentage to 34%. These are similar results, but grow a

2 Average Page Views When Shared on Facebook (126.61) /

Average Page Views When Not Shared on Facebook (88.44)
 2
small percentage when the results are widened to the Top 50 Page Views. Some of the

videos were shared on both accounts allowing these percentages to rise slightly.

Another very important characteristic when listening to the audience is knowing

and understanding what time of the day the site is being accessed. Through the website’s

Content Management System, each day’s visitors are continuously counted from

midnight to midnight and are broken up by the hour. For reference, the show tapes at

10:00 am and airs on a local television station at 11:00 am. This piece of the case study

looked at one average week more in-depth by hour of the day, but also evaluated other

weeks in comparison to identify similar trends from week to week to exclude a week that

was an outlier. After analysis, a few time periods stood out more than others. Appendix C

shows the overall percentage of views by hour for one full day.

The highest traffic of 11% came at 11:00 am, during which the show airs. This is

significant because it indicates a general interest of viewers simultaneously being

connected via the television and the Internet. Taking a closer look, the data shows over

50% of those visits were on the main homepage. One conclusion could be that television

viewers had a general interest in the show and landed on the main homepage to inquire

about more information. They were not directed by a link to a specific page.

The second highest percentage of 10% was at 4:00 pm. Compared to the earlier

time periods, there are less main homepage views and more views of individual pages

containing video within the site. This may mean that they are coming to watch more

video content rather than a general inquiry about the show. At this time of the day, that

day’s show has been split into the smaller, individual segments and uploaded to be

viewed on the website. It is about this time of day where viewers can watch that day’s

show content online. Also, by this time of day the links have been shared via the

previously discussed social media. This sharing of links by social media or possibly

word-of-mouth could also lead to the more direct approach of skipping the main

homepage and just visiting the individual video pages. After 4:00 pm, the viewers per
 1
hour slowly decline until midnight. Besides these two prime hours, this case study also

noticed the hours between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm to be consistently high.

In addition to knowing when users are accessing the site, it is also important to

know how they are accessing the site. The webpage that referred them to the site or what

webpage they were on before visiting the website of the show. Appendix D has the break

down of types of referring websites in a graphical representation.3

4. All Types of Referring Websites

Search Engines Direct Other Websites
All Referring Websites 72% 16% 12%

Out of all the visitors who visited the show’s website, 72% came from search

engines. While Google was the most popular, there was significant traffic from other

Internet search engines. Another 16% directly accessed the website through either having

the webpage saved as a bookmark or directly typing in the address. The remaining 12%

came from other websites, or sites with inbound links to the website of the show.

5. Top 50 Inbound Referring Websites

Search Engines Facebook Other Websites
Top 50
86% 8% 6%
Inbound Websites

Appendix E is a graphical representation of the Top 50 Inbound Website.4

Looking at the Top 50 referring sites, the analysis shows 85% of these sites are search

3 Data collected from Omniture

4 Data collected from Omniture

 2
engines, 8% came from Facebook, and the remaining 6% came from other websites. By

focusing on the Top 50, the importance of search engine and of search engine

optimization becomes very apparent. This is where the majority of traffic is coming from

so it needs to be optimized to yield the best results. There is a drastic drop from 12% to

only 6% of traffic that is referred by outside websites when broken down from overall the

Top 50 respectively. In the few months this case study looks at, there were already

thousands of links to the individual segments that could have been shared on outside

websites. Over the course of months, these inbound links add up and can contribute

significantly to the overall visitors. By adding more viewers, these inbound links from

other websites fit into the model of the long tail introduced and popularized by Chris

Anderson in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling

Less of More. Chris Anderson defines the long tail as “shifting away from a

focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and

markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number

of niches in the tail” (Anderson, 2005, para. 1). Concerning the website

in this study, each site may only refer one visitor, but with thousand of potential links

referring visitors to their respective video segments, these referrals from other websites

become a larger percentage. Typically, these other sites are usually those of the

individual guests who were on the show and are sharing the video on their personal site

or social media accounts.

In addition to the longtail made by the other referring websites, the other main

area of attention needs to focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The bulk of the

recorded traffic comes from different search engines and, by taking a closer look at what

terms they are searching for, they can give insight into SEO. After looking at all the

different search terms, most searches included variations of the show’s title. Including the

most popular ones when tagging videos or looking into alternative spellings is very
 3
important in SEO. Incorporating this to the metadata needed to complete the search,

higher or better search results can be obtained.

Lastly and possibly one of the most important questions under analysis in this

case study looks to see if online usage is correlated with traditional television viewing.

Using the correlation function within Excel, comparisons were made using the data

collected for daily ratings, page views, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers.5 The

correlation can range from 1.0 to -1.0 and indicates the amount of association between a

dependent variable and independent variable. As the coefficient result approaches 1.0 or

-1.0, the variables are more perfectly correlated and the variables depend strongly upon

each other. As it approaches zero, there is less correlation between the variables until it

reaches no correlation when it reaches zero. Whether the equation is positive or negative

does not effect the strength of the relationship between the variable, but is determined by

how the values lie is association to their respective mean. As Cohen (1988) observed, in

social sciences there is a great contribution to other complicating factors that may

decrease the coefficient when related to more scientific studies. The results can still be

viewed as helpful in determining relationships among variables but should not be the

only source for interpreting data.

The researcher analyzed the viewers in three important demographic groups;

1. Households Live Plus Same Day6

2. Females 25-54 Live Plus Same Day

3. Persons 18-49 Live Plus Same Day

These three demographics are important because they are the target demographics for the

show’s viewing audience and for advertisers.

5 Data collected from Nielsen ratings, Omniture, Facebook, and

Twitter, respectively

6 Nielsen ratings include ‘live’ viewing plus time-shifted viewing that

occurs before 3am after the original broadcast (Bachman, 2009).
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The following is the first correlation analysis in this case study, looking for an

important correlation between the traditional Nielsen television rating and overall daily

page views on the show’s website. The following are the results of the three segmented

demographics:

6. Correlation Coefficient for Nielsen Same Plus Same Day

Rating and Overall Daily Page Views
Demographic Correlation Coefficient
Households: -.030
Females 25-54 -.085
Persons 18-49 -.148

The results of -.03, -.085, and -.148 infer there is almost no correlation between

the rating the show receives on a given day, or how many people are watching the show

live or compared to those who will view their website. Looking further into the research,

it was found that the days with the highest television ratings did not match the days with

the highest online page views. Even though the correlation for Persons 18-49 is very

weak, it must be pointed out that it is slightly higher than that of the overall households.

As previously mentioned, about 50% of the audience is composed of households over the

age of 65. When viewing the younger demographic breakdowns, this may attribute to the

slightly higher results. The younger viewers are marginally more inclined to visit the

website.

Searching deeper into the relationship of online usage, the correlation between the

Nielsen household rating and the change in Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers was

calculated. This calculation was achieved by comparing the Nielsen Rating for the day’s

show and the change in Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers for the associated day. The

on air show makes many references to search for the segments online but only makes a

few references to follow them on Facebook or Twitter. Users of Facebook and Twitter
 2
cannot be differentiated based on age or sex causing the only comparable relationship

between households and total ‘fans’ or ‘followers.’

7. Correlation Coefficient for Nielsen Same Plus Same Day

Rating and Daily Change in Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers
Demographic Correlation Coefficient
Facebook Twitter
Households: .448 .048

The correlation of .448 between Household Rating and Facebook Fans is the

highest of all correlations done in this study, but is viewed as a medium strength

relationship. Keeping in mind the age demographic of the show, the assumption can be

made that more fans have Facebook accounts and are more comfortable becoming a fan

on Facebook than following the Twitter account. By looking at the individual reported

numbers, the difference between Facebook and Twitter is that the changes in Facebook

fans more closely follows the fluctuations in the ratings, whereas Twitter has about the

same change in followers each day. Additionally, Twitter was the only social media

account from day to day where the overall followers would be less. Over the course of

four months in this study, the Facebook account did not have a day where the total fans

were less than the previous day. Across the board of demographics, the day with the

highest rating during the study resulted in the most Facebook fans in one day, but not the

most Twitter followers. The day with the most Twitter followers came on the same day of

the highest overall page views. The day the lowest page views came after a week break

where there were only reruns of the show.

The last correlation between overall daily page views and daily change in

Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers compares two online activities that are more closely

linked to each other because the social networks act as a tool to refer users to the main

website.
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8. Correlation Coefficient for Overall Daily Page Views

and Daily Change in Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers
Correlation
Coefficient
Page Views and Facebook Fans -.258
Page Views and Twitter Followers .149

The results of -.258 and .149 in Table 3 are considered a medium strength

relationship and are higher than when comparing television ratings and page views. Users

may be like the content being posted on these social networks and follow the feed to

receive additional and similar content. These two variables are more closely related as

they are both online activities that may happen on the same screen. Whereas the rating to

page view relationship is crossing platforms and users would be using multiple devices,

making the correlation less likely.

Correlation does not show causation, but can help determine the impact or change

one variable has on the other variable. These results can serve as a benchmark moving

forward to determine if the relationship between the variables in this study has increased

or declined.

These correlation results reveal characteristics about the viewing audience and

their connectivity to online media. The calculations in Table 7 and Table 8 present the

viewers as more connected to or more comfortable using Facebook than compared to

Twitter. To aid this relationship and develop a higher correlation, more attention should

be paid to Facebook to offer more services concerning the show’s content.

The small correlations revealed in Table 6 may depict two different audiences;

one audience who view the show through the television and one that view content online.

If the television show achieves a high rating, recorded by Nielsen, there is a small

correlation that will effect the viewing habits of the online audience. If the show has low
 2
ratings, the website may attract the same or potentially more viewers because they are not

very closely correlated.

The results presented reveal the relationship between the traditional broadcast

audience and an online audience. Identifying patterns and habits of the audience’s usage

can lead to a better user experience and allow the show to become more successful.

Sharing links to video segments through social media helped some videos gain exposure

and lead traffic directly to the website, usually around 4:00 pm. Whereas at 11:00 am,

when the show airs on television, most of the traffic was coming from search engines

leading people to the show’s homepage. The correlations calculated in this study showed

a weak relationship between different mediums, but expose those in which the audience

may feel most comfortable using.

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS

In the current landscape of the television industry, it is essential to develop an

online component to the over-the-air product. The future may hold profitable business

plans that do not require a traditional product to be broadcasted using conventional

methods and this content may solely be available online.

Research in the television industry shows there is significant interest in building

online entities as new online initiatives are being developed, larger percentages of

budgets are being devoted to online efforts, and employees are devoting their time to

engaging consumers online. In the current industry, traditional media are being

repurposed for online uses with limited content that is made exclusively for the web.

Internet activity is thought of as an extension of the original product that holds different

possibilities (A. Bleyaert, personal communication, December 16, 2009).

The television industry was slow to adapt online capabilities because of the lack

of metrics and the extensive time it takes to build a library of content online. As practices

became standardized and metrics improved, there has been more attention being paid to

the online efforts of networks. Other factors, such as broadband connection and better

image resolution have also aided the development of online content. Technology has

advanced to allow the platforms in which consumers view content to transition from a

large cathode ray television set weighing hundreds of pounds to a flat screen weighing

only a few pounds that can be easily transported; for example, smartphones, laptops, or

tablets.

5.1 DISCUSSION

The three main areas of study in this research focused around the audience of the

broadcast show and website, how they were using the website, and the correlation

between online usage and traditional television viewing.

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The audience is an important aspect to understand because they are the end users

and content can be tailored to their online habits to facilitate ease of use and a better

experience with the online elements of a television show. Determining what segment

categories were popular online can help to book similar guests for future shows. In this

study, the most popular guests fell in the categories of music, those with a local

connection, and fashion. The researcher based the categorization on the main topic of the

segment and assigned the label of music, local, and fashion.

Many attributes contribute to why the above types of videos are the most

successful online, but through observations in this study a factor of success of these

videos was an already established online following. Those artists and fashion icons

featured in these segments receive high brand recognition online and entice more users to

click on their video. The music and fashion segments had already done the hard work of

establishing their brand online and developed a devoted following with whom they can

instantly share content with. These brands share the video with their vast, established

networks resulting in the video content reaching more potential viewers. Again, the long-

tail principle made famous by Chris Anderson comes into play here. Each site, on which

the guest shares the video may only get ten views, but if shared over 100 sites, that can

quickly add up to many more views than a single posting of the video on the show’s

website. Not only does the show benefit from this, but the guest does as well because

these videos can contribute to the conversations among online fans. It should be a priority

of the show to facilitate easy access to links and to provide them to the guests upon

upload to ensure timely sharing among social media.

These inbound links from other website are a positive way to promote the content

on the show as well as promote the branding of the show. This study showed the majority

of inbound links coming from Google searches, with a small percentage (8%) attributed

to Facebook. Other sources such as the brands of the giveaways featured on each show,

blogs, YouTube, and more can be established to drive more traffic. Building relationships
 2
with other content providers may lead to cross-promotional opportunities as well. The

creation of these inbounds links may also result in new outbound links to the products

mentioned above as a way to push visitors to their sites as well.

The idea of cross-promotion with other products is important, but not as important

as cross-promotion within the brand itself, meaning the mentioning of online material

during the on-air broadcast. Constant reminders throughout the show can lead to online

visits or mentions on social networking sites. The real-time update nature of Twitter

makes it a great tool to track this conversation and follow the reaction to mentioning

content available online during the show. These mentions do not have to be verbal but

can appear as a lower-third with a Twitter hashtag, social network handle, or other

relevant content. This may be difficult because the online department and the on-air

department may be separate and not easily share information in time for the original

broadcast. As more companies develop their online teams, focus should be paid to

establish a seamless connection or similar branding between the two entities and have a

continuous conversation between the two platforms.

Another area that can be easily developed is the sharing of content through the

show’s own social networking sites: Twitter and Facebook. This study found only 56

links were shared via Twitter and only 26 via Facebook during the period of time data

was collected. Conducted over a four-month period of time, these results show less than

one link a day was posted through social networks. To remain active and in the viewer’s

mind, there needs to be a significant increase in activity. These posts can be spread

throughout the day, during high peaks of traffic for the show’s website, 11 am and 4 pm.

or during non-peak hours, after 4 pm including weekends. During these less popular

hours there is less competition from other sources. At the same time, posting routinely at

specific times during the day can aide the consumer to build a habit of looking for content

from the show at that time (Zarrella, 2011).

 3
Information gathered from this study can lead to suggestions of potential best

times to post content. The results indicated the highest traffic on the website is during the

times of 11 am and 4 pm. The time in between these high points was also among the

highest traffic on the site. Therefore, during the daytime, between the tent poles

established at 11 am and 4 pm, would be ideal times to drive more traffic to the site via

social media.

One advantage of the Internet when compared to broadcast television is there is

no schedule of programming to follow, no days where re-runs are scheduled, and content

is not available to a few markets but generally to anybody who has Internet access. Most

shows have a period where they are off-air and there are re-runs, which can lead to a drop

in ratings and less Internet activity. This time does not have to be wasted but can be

embraced online through unique techniques to keep viewers engaged with the show when

there is no new, physical product. For example, posting behind-the-scenes footage, user-

generated content, or highlight clips. Again, this study focused on a local show that was

based in a large market. Even though the audience is one of the largest, it is still a limited

number of viewers because of broadcasting restrictions of a local station. The coverage of

a local station only covers its Designated Market Area [DMA] and cannot be obtained in

outside markets, limiting its viewership to a small percentage of the population. These

limitations may not the same when viewing videos on the website. In most cases, viewers

from outside the DMA can watch content just as easily as one within the DMA. This can

lead to a larger potential audience that what may have previously been assumed with the

traditional broadcast, leading to a larger audience.

There are many possibilities to share content through the Internet and, as it

changes and advances each day, more opportunities and ideas present themselves. It is

important to develop key performance indicators (KPI) to keep the project and initiatives

in focus. What are the most important factors of sharing the content online? Choosing the
 2
best for the company or program may include; having the most viewers, engaged

viewers, loyal consumers, or spending a lot of time on the website.

Each show is different and has to set its own goals that follow the goals of the

overall show. The Internet is just another tool to set the overall tone, to enhance the

viewing experience, and build the audience of a show. There is no universal

recommendation, but this study reveals the habits of a small sample of users in

conjunction with a large market, daytime, magazine show over a four-month period.

5.2 LIMITATIONS

There are natural limitations to producing a local daytime magazine show that

should be taken into consideration when analyzing the show and its associated content.

The majority of national and syndicated daily television shows have large budgets that

allow for a large staff dedicated to the content being produced for the show. The local

nature of the show results in multi-tasking producers and shared equipment and personnel

throughout the station. Resources such as limited time and the difficultly to book multiple

guests daily all inhibit the ability of show.

The goals of the show do not align to develop an online product, so it was

difficult to go beyond the expected amount of Internet activity of posting on-air content

to the website. Social media strategies were in the infancy of development and there was

limited effort to develop content exclusively for those purposes.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

If a similar case study were to be done in the future, choosing a show that was

more heavily involved in online media would be preferred. Additionally, a baseline

measurement should be established to determine the effectiveness of new business

endeavors.
 3
Also, the website being studied should be able to produce detailed information

about users, such as identifying unique users, time spent on site, and a path analysis only

on that website’s content. This information will lead to a better understanding of how

visitors are using and interacting with the website and the available content.
 1
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Appendix A: Most Viewed Video Segment Categories

Top 10

Top 20

Appendix B: The Most Viewed Videos Links Shared on Social Media

Twitter – 56 Links Shared

Top 10 Page Views

Top 20 Page Views

Top 50 Page Views

Facebook – 26 Links Shared

Top 10 Page Views

Top 20 Page Views

Top 50 Page Views

Appendix C: Percentage of Page Views by the Hour – One Full Day

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➙➙
Airing of Show ➙
Percentage of Total Page Views

Time of Day
 5
Appendix D: Percentage of All Types of Access to Website
 7
Appendix E: Top 50 Inbound Referring Websites

Top 50 Referring Websites