Last year for the first time- I watched American Idol. I watched from the beginning to the end missing only a few episodes. I was what Jenkins would call a “loyal”; I stuck it out to the very beginning. Based on my experience as an American Idol “loyal” I will tackle some of this weeks topics.
Viewership:
Television viewers are not stationary- they are mobile and dynamic. So, one of the big questions is how to market to these various people. Is advertising useful to the brand if people that watch the show are “zappers”? Jenkins points out that Nielsen does not have sufficient technology to measuring those who flip between channels, but that they focus on the whole block of time.
I tend not to watch media all at once on a television because I do not like television commercials. On the other hand, in large part because I do not have cable television, I watch some of my regular programing (Suits on USA Network) on the Internet. This lends me to be able to look more into things that go on during the show and to engage more. For some reason, I do not mind engaging with a show when it is on the computer- it just seems “natural” to me. Largely because the computer is an interactive device not a passive device like the television.
Viewer Interaction:
Jenkins describes a family with various members who watch American Idol with different levels of intensity. I would not have stuck through American Idol (or voted for that matter) had my wife not had the bug a bit worse than I. She would occasionally fill me in on something that I missed becase I seldom care to sit in front of the television for an hour (or often more). Throught the course of the show, because we had watched it together it became a common talking point and a weekly meeting ground. I also talked about it at school. In this respect I was a very valuable viewer to AI. I’m not sure if anyone viewer is better than another, but those viewers who engage with the product and other viewers have more capital in my vote.
Product Placement:
From wondering if the cereal companies sponsored Jerry Seinfeld to knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Coca-Cola controls the world through their advertisement, the notion of product placement has always fascinated me. Jenkins points out that too much or overly overt product placement can be a “double-edged sword”. I’ve long been put off my product placements (MasterChef’s comments about the quality of the cookware) that seem forced or worse, overly didactic.
Interaction:
Prior to American Idol (to the best of my recollection) I had never explicitly voted for anything or participated in the television participatory media. Jenkin’s mentions that American Idol was (possibly) instrumental in assisting Americans to start text messaging. I dislike texting- very much. I voted via AmericanIdol.com (which was new to the last season).
Viewership:
Television viewers are not stationary- they are mobile and dynamic. So, one of the big questions is how to market to these various people. Is advertising useful to the brand if people that watch the show are “zappers”? Jenkins points out that Nielsen does not have sufficient technology to measuring those who flip between channels, but that they focus on the whole block of time.
I tend not to watch media all at once on a television because I do not like television commercials. On the other hand, in large part because I do not have cable television, I watch some of my regular programing (Suits on USA Network) on the Internet. This lends me to be able to look more into things that go on during the show and to engage more. For some reason, I do not mind engaging with a show when it is on the computer- it just seems “natural” to me. Largely because the computer is an interactive device not a passive device like the television.
Viewer Interaction:
Jenkins describes a family with various members who watch American Idol with different levels of intensity. I would not have stuck through American Idol (or voted for that matter) had my wife not had the bug a bit worse than I. She would occasionally fill me in on something that I missed becase I seldom care to sit in front of the television for an hour (or often more). Throught the course of the show, because we had watched it together it became a common talking point and a weekly meeting ground. I also talked about it at school. In this respect I was a very valuable viewer to AI. I’m not sure if anyone viewer is better than another, but those viewers who engage with the product and other viewers have more capital in my vote.
Product Placement:
From wondering if the cereal companies sponsored Jerry Seinfeld to knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Coca-Cola controls the world through their advertisement, the notion of product placement has always fascinated me. Jenkins points out that too much or overly overt product placement can be a “double-edged sword”. I’ve long been put off my product placements (MasterChef’s comments about the quality of the cookware) that seem forced or worse, overly didactic.
Interaction:
Prior to American Idol (to the best of my recollection) I had never explicitly voted for anything or participated in the television participatory media. Jenkin’s mentions that American Idol was (possibly) instrumental in assisting Americans to start text messaging. I dislike texting- very much. I voted via AmericanIdol.com (which was new to the last season).
Product Branding:
Did American Idol make me want a Ford or drink coke? Possibly? I have long appreciated Coke’s advertising dominance. One need look no further than “The Pepsi Challenge” to understand that Pepsi tastes great, but Coke KILLS (shouting intended) in advertising. One can hardly look at American Idol without being inundated with coke messages. Are these advertisements effective--I think so. Coke does a great job selling their image.
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-hopkins/Coke%20V%20Pepsi%20brand%20breadth.png
I expect that few people are aware of how much advertisements they take in on the average day. Morgan Spurlock recently put out a documentary called POM Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold which is a movie about funding a movie with product placement.
This is convergence.
Though Spurlock is releasing movies on the big screen, he is still small fish compared to other film makers. The interesting thing about PWTGMES is that Spurlock acts as a consumer and a producer. He is producing content about consuming content. This movie allows the viewer the ability to see into how marketers view marketing- specifically product placement. Spurlock wears a suit with the brand of each sponsor on it, in addition to wearing and using the sponsoring products throughout the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jXReCaZ5Ts
In closing, last night I was watching a film on Hulu and it gave me the option of taking a quiz and not having any commercials or to watch the film with regular commercial breaks (which are still much more brief than television, but becoming less and less so). This was a media asking me what I wanted- do I want to watch the show without commercial breaks after playing a game (which was rife with ads) or do I just want to sit through the regular commercial breaks. This is media getting down and tailoring the pitch to each individual. This seems to me that it will either be very frustrating to marketing gurus or else it will be the future. Time will tell.
Does it matter if reality TV or things that (we think) allow us to converge are “rigged” so long as the we (the masses) are entertained?
How hard can product placing push before it becomes annoying?
Is anyone type of media consumer more important than the rest assuming that all get the gist of the advertising?
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