Big Data Leads the Golden Age of TV eight rules

From the Game of Thrones to the remake of Arested Development, the television industry has ushered in a golden age of development. It's not a coincidence that TV shows and advertisers are using brand new standards to create hit shows. Under these new rules, social media such as Twitter play the same role as ratings, with new ideas defeating old standards, and niche celebrities and big names being equally important. This article examines the new trends in the U.S. television industry with the hit American TV series Mad Men and Community.

New Rule 1: Nielsen ratings survey has no meaning

On the 7th of February, the fourth quarter of the comedy "Cigarette League" was launched at NBC. It's a real shock that this show has survived - the show is ranked 193rd in radio programming. That night, the first episode of the fourth season of The Waste Wood Alliance attracted just 4 million viewers, the equivalent of the hottest Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, One-fourth of ratings. In the Nielsen ratings rankings, the "Wastewood Union" did not even perform as well as the ABC reality show "Shark Tank".

In the past, the viewership of 4 million viewers meant that they stopped broadcasting. However, when the premiere of the season four, the "Wastewood Union" completed a feat that other TV shows - the play on Twitter set off two global hot topics.

In fact, all good-looking TV shows in the ratings are ugly. For example, Breaking Bad and Mad Men scored just 3 points on Nelson while NBC's 30 Rock barely scored 2.5 points. Parks and Recreation have barely reached the top 25 in Nielsen. Thus, we can launch two possible conclusions: 1, all of these programs should be cut off; 2, the audience rating bias.

Nelson has long been the authority on TV ratings - it counts 25,000 households for viewing. Although Nielsen's influence has diminished in recent years, it remains an authoritative source of information: it counts the ratings of programs broadcast on traditional television sets. But we no longer watch shows on television, but over Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Roku, iTunes, smartphones and tablets - ratings on these platforms and devices do not reflect In Nielsen's investigation. In February of this year, Nelson announced that it will begin monitoring the online ordering of TV shows in the fall.

After the show ended, our experience was not over yet. We'll watch the actor's profile on the IMDB while watching the show on the tablet, discuss the story on Twitter, comment on the forums you like, and share the gossip with your friends on Facebook. Even, we will discuss with others a program we have never seen before. However, none of the above user behavior is reflected in Nielsen's ratings survey. Nelson last year acquired SocialGuide and announced a partnership with Twitter to conduct a more comprehensive ratings survey. At peak times, 40% of Twitter traffic is about TV shows. Therefore, a television drama Twitter attention and ratings may be equally important. Advertisers and web platforms have noticed this. In any case, Nielsen and other ratings agencies will change the content of the work, and strive to explore the impact of television programs on different platforms. This will allow us to redefine the value of a television program - its value not only on the silver screen. Ultimately, each of us will benefit from the value of the television program.

The new law two: big data dominate the television industry

In February, Twitter acquired Bluefin Labs, a social media tracking company, to launch new advertising products and develop a viable profit model. Without strong analytical skills, Twitter simply can not achieve this goal. But with the exception of Bluefin Labs, there are many other companies on the market that can analyze chats online and figure out how television shows affect advertisers and networks - such as Trendrr. Both Trendrr and Bluefin Labs capture user comment data on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms. Trendrr collects information such as the user's gender, location, and mobile device directly through questionnaires, and Bluefin Labs uses user-generated data and findings through machine learning and cognitive science research - not only for users' Feedback, but also user feedback on advertising. The two companies then map the results of the analysis on program play time, viewing habits, episode development lines and roles.

The new rule three: television programs can crowdsourcing

Amazon is already using Big Data to help improve customer service. By analyzing user data, Amazon can recommend new products to different buyers. Now with its knowledge of 200 million active users, Amazon and Jeff Bezos (the creators of Amazon.com) can throw Hollywood television and movies aside and develop their own shows. In the near future, Amazon will become a major competitor to Netflix (Netflix is ​​the only tipping point in the world's top ten video sites).

Last May, Amazon Studios (Amazon Studios program team) announced that Amazon will make original comedy television and children's programs, and anyone can upload their own script and feedback on the Amazon studio site. Through a comparison of feedback and careful reading, a dedicated team eventually screened 25 finalists out of 2,700 applications. Last December, Amazon Studios opened a green light for six comedy scripts and produced a test strip. Some of the scripts come from famous screenwriters such as David Javerbaum at The Daily Show, but some of the plays are from unknown fans.

At this step, the traditional approach is that the top of the program production team will select a few from the six test strips and make it into a series. Instead, Amazon will publicly broadcast all six test strips in the coming months and leverage its strong user base to provide analytics feedback. Subsequently, the audience's opinion decided which of the test strips had the most potential to become a successful drama. Therefore, the series has been optimized before the formal launch, as well as a large number of media effects and audience base. Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios, said: "Audiences will find that the style of the series and the way the characters are expressed are likely to change constantly." If one of the series eventually became a success, the production team and the audience worked together result.

The new rule four: magical "Mind reading surgery"

CBS's TV City has many interesting things, some people sit comfortably in the lab watching the TV series, but the head is connected with many electrode strips. In fact, this is only part of the study. Inside the MGM Grand Hotel, there is a state-of-the-art studios, where CBS is studying the behavior of television viewers. 365 days a year, 10.5 hours a day, where people constantly look at television, commercials, test strips, and many cut-out dramas in popular TV series to pick the most promising shows and help optimize the plot and characterization.

When television city volunteers watch shows on the iPad and submit feedback, the iPad is also watching them, tracking their facial expressions and feelings. If you frown and click on the "change station" button, the researcher will know your choice, and the creative team at the show will get this feedback. David F. Poltrack, research director at CBS, said: "In general, people are good at expressing their preferences to us." Then, the electrodes came in. During ad time, the electrode strips track the brainwaves of the audience and measure emotional states and memory activities. At present, one of the main research topics of TV City is "Tipping Point" - what kind of reaction will the audience make when the commercial advertisement is cut in? So while relaxing, stretching your legs, watching TV comfortably, and then let the computer quietly measure your brain waves. Perhaps, when the next episode of the show goes live, you will find that it fits your taste.

New Rule V: More Competition = Better TV Shows

Last year, cable television gained more Emmy than the wireless television (American TV highest honor award). Cable has bottomed out, is in a steady recovery, and has led to the refinement of programming channels: so many programs are so good that the difference between cable and wireless is barely trivial. Quality is the difference between the real thing.

The new rule six: the influence of television has been transferred

The secret of becoming a hot TV actress: First, try not to participate in the three lens layout of the scenario drama. Believe us, preferring to play a role in a great drama and not play a leading role in a bad show. Second, show you a broad play path. If you've only seen Alison Brie in Scorch, you may find she does not fit other characters, but if you've only seen Alison Brie in Mad Men, you can not imagine she's funny Looks like

However, the most important tip is that you need to understand that viewers no longer watch TV as they did before. You need to know how to work with your fans, take part in offline activities, and train a large number of loyal Twitter fans. In the past, the television screen has always been the best performance platform for actors, but it is not. And, a great actor can play the role of both television and drama, moving between the studio and the theater.

The new rule seven: Fried rice as delicious

Seven years after being stopped, Arrested Development snapped up again. Actors in the studio do not up-to-date, gag, and then someone shouted into the rest time. Actor Will Arnett said: "We have time and money."

In 2006, we saw the show for the last time. Undoubtedly, the longstanding low ratings mean that it will surely be stopped. For the average audience, jokes in "blocked development" are too jerky. Although it has won Emmys and other awards, unless you've watched the show all the time, you will not be fanged by the middle part of the show. In other words, the show does not fit on television.

Seven years have seen many changes in the television industry. Netflix turned from a DVD carrier into a paid video network. Burning pot drama (once see even a few sets or a whole season) became a national phenomenon. Because of its complexity, depth and frequent embedding of fleeting humor, "Blocked Development" is not suitable for play on television, but is exactly what happened in the new era - viewers can watch, watch or watch them continuously Favorite TV show "Forbidden Development" In the past on Fox television broadcast, set in the story of a smile to be excited in three weeks. But on Netflix, you can read the same story in less than an hour.

Netflix not only revitalized the "blocked development", but also brought a revolution to the television industry. Mitch Hurwitz, who created the "blocked development" by one hand, decided to reopen this second-generation TV series. Netflix, which started the development of its original shows, immediately followed suit and beat Showtime in a bid to win the rights to follow-up episodes of "Blocked Development." To do this, Netflix needed to pay $ 3 million for each 30-minute "blockage" of its development - the equivalent of one hour's worth of "deadly toothache" at AMC. In May of this year, Netflix will launch a series of brainstorming "blockaded development" of 14 new shots.

A good TV series will not only attract more and more viewers, but also make more and more viewers more loyal - the more you want to see, the audiences like "Game of Thrones" and "Homeland Security" always look forward to New episode of TV series. Netflix was faced with the problem of having many people subscribe to its service every year and many unsubscribing from it. The way for the audience to rely on themselves is to improve the quality of the program. In addition, Netflix has accumulated a wealth of user data over the years - what users have seen or liked watching. So, once you hear that you want to remake a show, Netflix becomes very sensitive because they know how many Netflix users have seen it or something like that. This means they know the number of potential viewers on the show and can also recommend to viewers programs that viewers might like.

That's why Netflix's new shows are sequels or adaptations based on fiction: at least they understand the audience base for these shows. Therefore, Netflix can better predict the audience's reaction.

Not only does Netflix know what the audience likes, it also knows how viewers like to watch the show. For example, it knows that many viewers like to go to bed even after watching the episode "Breaking Bad." In other words, the audience of "Deadly Poison" like pottery play. Mostly this kind of addiction is harmless and harmless, just as some people like to drink at lunch and like to eat ice cream after dinner. In order to satisfy these audience habits, each drama is unique, its story is more and more consistent and the length of the plot, rather than the plot of the independent story (drama) stacked products.

New rule eight: the audience does not wait with the fans

"Game of Thrones" and "Mad Men" are well-produced TV shows by any standard, with many hardcore fans. But the data is cruel: fans do not represent the audience. The number of these shows was far behind the number of episodes such as NCIS and The Big Bang, which were not rated as high.