Television Networks have a problem: with so many options for watching TV online, via subscription services and on the audience’s own schedule and devices, how can they get people to watch the new shows on broadcast TV, when they actually air?
Well, beyond the obvious answer of making the shows so good no one could bear to miss them, they have had to turn to Social Media to try and get people back to the couch.
Enter the TV Show Hashtags and the hype built up around them.
Networks know that the Hashtag is the modern equivalent of the next-day water-cooler conversation about the shows people watched last night, but this convo happens in real time.
Which means their audience can build a community around their show without having to all work in the same office building or attend the same school. They don’t even have to know each other.
The audience for Scandal, which was one of the most highly anticipated season openers this Fall, lives all over the country, and shares the love for Olivia Pope all across Twitter. The only dissonance comes when those darn East Coasters tweet out the spoilers before us West Coasters get to see the episode. Not that I’m bitter…
ABC has taken the unprecedented step this season of giving the entire Primetime lineup of Thursday nights to a single producer, Shonda Rhimes, and they are promoting it all over the place with the Hashtag #TGIT – Thank God It’s Thursday. ABC’s Thursday lineup is very strong, both in ratings and Hashtags, with #GreysAnatomy, #Scandal and #ScandalThursday and #HowToGetAwayWithMurder and #HTGAWM. Follow all the fans there.
But ABC and Thursdays are not the only ones with Hashtags, of course. Start by picking your favorite new show of the Fall season, find their Twitter handle and you’ll quickly find the Hashtag, and by extension, the tribe of people who love it like you do.
Let us know your favorite shows and Hashtags in the comments below.
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