• by Wayne Friedman , April 1, 2010

It isn't just about passive eyeballs; it's about emotions of viewers that are important, perhaps more so.

The company that came up with "Q" scores for entertainment personalities has now devised the Emotional Bonding Q index, which assigns a number to viewers' emotional connection to TV shows.

The emotional bonding scores capitalize on recent TV marketers' emphasis on pursuing TV shows and content that have a high viewer "engagement."

The Q Scores Company, part of Marketing Evaluations, says these numbers can help cable networks' first-run series effectively compete with higher-rated series on the broadcast networks among both men and women in the key 18-49 demographics.

According to its first survey, a number of cable shows outrank broadcast TV shows. Many top-rated cable shows are also high-ranking according to emotional bonding.

For example, for men 18-49, USA Network's top-rated dramas "Burn Notice" and "White Collar" grabbed a 300 and 271 emotional bonding Q index numbers, respectively, placing them as the first- and second-best in emotional bonding.

The biggest-scoring broadcast network show was CBS' "Big Bang Theory," in fifth place at a 194 score; ABC's "Lost" was at 188, good for seventh place.

For women 18-49, Oxygen's "The Bad Girls Club" was No. 1 with a 321 score, the best-rated show overall. USA's "Burn Notice" was second, at a 280 index, with ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" coming in third with a 232 number.

Source:  Marketing Evaluations, Inc., The Q Scores Company
 / TVQ and Cable Q National Studies: 1st Qtr. 2010

Note:  EBQ Index of 100 = Average