Commentary

Music May Not Always Need Social Media: Could TV Make The Same Claim?

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 1, 2015

Scarcity in media: Who really uses it well these days? Musical artist Adele, for one.

Adele does virtually no social media -- no comments, tweets, snarky bits about other celebrities. Nothing. And what does she get for avoiding perhaps one of the new powerful marketing tools this century? One of the biggest selling albums in recent memory.

Her album “25,” out now following a four-year hiatus from her last release “21,” sold 3.2 million albums in one week, breaking a record that has stood since 2000, when ’N Sync sold 2.4 million copies of “No Strings Attached.”

Figure out if you can put a TV show/star/producer into that equation. A “Walking Dead”? A “Fargo”? A “Scandal”? TV executives need social media to stir buzz -- especially to boost their declining on-air ratings.

And then take a look at Fox’s “Empire.” In one of the most amazing performances for a TV show in recent memory, for its original 13-episode run year ago, it had week after week of growing ratings. This unheard-of rise in viewership was bolstered by a detailed and strong social media plan -- one that closely observed Twitter content as well as telling stories about the show and social media.

But Adele’s current success isn’t a pure example of avoiding social media. One can’t discount tons of social talk about “25” -- just not coming personally from her. (She has 24.1 million followers). And then there was the “scarcity” consideration of being away -- in theory -- for four years.

But absence from TV doesn’t always work that way. Did we run to shows following the return to TV of Michael J. Fox or Robin Williams in recent years? Not really.

But then two years ago NBC aired “The Sound of Music Live,” which blinded TV observers with a monstrously large 19 million viewers -- somewhat hampered by a modest marketing budget and mixed critical reviews. Who saw that coming?

Scarcity used to be TV’s thing years ago: building viewer interest in waiting for the new season to begin, for example. Now with more competition from new media, if you play the “scarce” game, you’ll end up almost always wanting more, for sure.

music, tv

2 comments about "Music May Not Always Need Social Media: Could TV Make The Same Claim?".

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Thomas Siebert from BENEVOLENT PROPAGANDA, December 1, 2015 at 4:16 p.m.
The key is producing good product once you're a known commodity. Both Adele's previous albums and the "Skyfall" single were massive award winning hits, and, after four years away, "25" sounds like she hasn't missed a step, so that's one thing. Proven quality still sells.

Compare that to the MJFox or Robin Williams' shows, which were mediocre at best. If I remember, the latter espeically got a significant sampling the first episode, then tailed off as people realized it wasn't very good. The MJFox show got such bad reviews I never even sampled it before it got cancelled; too bad, because he's one of the most winning actors around.

And while Adele herself may not be a social media maven, I've had no shortage of stories in the FB feed linking me to one performance or another of hers. She may not be on social media, but the "Adele" brand is everywhere thanks to her TV appearances, which ripple across social media like a sonic boom.
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Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, December 1, 2015 at 5:14 p.m.

Mystified that there's a belief that social is critical for TV. What's critical for TV is good product well promoted. A company's choice to leverage social themselves may be a very poor waste of money. But everybody makes different decisions.
Maybe we'd be well to learn from L Brands (Victoria Secret, et al) CEO Wexner who recently observed "that a muscular brand will bring web sales naturally, and that focusing on web sales is, essentially, backward.”
A muscular, good music or TV product will naturally drive social activity - because that's the way it generally works best. And when all those studio marketers crow loudly about their social campaigns, it pays to remember that nobody ever got fired for recommending digital or social efforts - but that doesn't mean they are effective...just the dull boring status quo answer.
In fact... Look carefully at the "big successes" social media has driven. In general, social media's role has been to generate enough buzz that they get huge space and time in traditional media... And it's the traditional media space that creates the demand for the music or movie or TV show. Social played a big role in getting some of these into traditional media...but that's often the only strategic contribution.