• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, September 11, 2008

In MediaLife this week, Kevin Downey noted that in the TV business, buzz is equated with success. "But as it turns out, it's not true. Big buzz doesn't guarantee success, and in fact big-buzz shows do no better in the ratings than shows people are not talking about at all," writes Downey, quoting from a new study by Magna which tracked shows for the past 10 seasons. Magna found that only 11 of 39 shows that got the most preseason hype went on to become hits. That's about the average hit rate for all new shows... regardless of advanced publicity.

"All the buzz and promotion in the world is only designed to get viewers to tune in once," Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna, tells Downey. "After that, a show lives or dies on its own merits."

"Lives or dies on its own merits." Say it again, my brothers and sisters, "Lives or dies on its own merits." Louder now! "LIVES OR DIES ON ITS OWN MERITS!!" A little softer now, "lives or dies on its own merits." Once more for the folks checking their BlackBerrys, "Lives or dies on its own merits."

It is not just the entertainment industry that thinks it is all about the buzz, it is also the offline media, advertising and Internet industries. (The next person who says "viral" to me is going to get such a smack.) A fair number of campers in these communities think that by hiring PR firms, they are buying buzz. Or if they produce something kinda offbeat or edgy or unexpected for their clients, that it will generate buzz. But as the wizened Mr. Sternberg implies, while buzz might get you some attention, at the end of the day your program, product or service is going to live or die on its own merits.

Once a consumer, attracted to you by buzz (which Downey later reveals to be a direct function of how many promotion and publicity dollars a network throws at any given show) finds out you have a crappy program, product or service, you will get a whole 'nother kind of buzz that could kill your business. These days, unhappy customers are not content to complain to their spouse or car pool. They post their unhappiness to the Web, where in a search for your program, product or service, potential customers are liable to run across the rant.

The solution is not to use technology to keep the rants at bay, nor to "manage" your angry customers. Rather it is to make certain that BEFORE you start chomping for some buzz, that you have a program, product or service that--to modify a sound bite from Elaine Benes--is "buzzworthy." If you learn nothing about a career spent in the PR business, you learn that while reporters may jump on a bandwagon for a while helping create buzz, they are also the first to smell blood in the water and move in for the kill. The weaker your offering, the more blood seeps in the water.

It is all about quality and reliability (and on occasion, design, at least until they find out the battery dies right after the warranty expires--or that it can't be dry-cleaned at any price). Take all that buzz money and give it to the QA guys. When they are done, then think about buzz.