TY - JOUR
T1 - Social TV and audience engagement
T2 - investigating the relationship between Facebook engagement and TV performance of The Voice (USA)
AU - Tsai, Hsin Yi Sandy
AU - Lin, Hui Fei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2023/5/9
Y1 - 2023/5/9
N2 - Purpose: This study aims to examine entertainment TV shows' social media accounts to theoretically and practically explore the relationship between social media engagement and the performance (represented by ratings) of such shows. Design/methodology/approach: By using the data of a popular TV show in the USA, The Voice, the present study examined the messages on the Facebook fan page of the show and how these messages correlated with the ratings of the show. Social media usage data in the course of three seasons (Seasons 10–12, 82 episodes in total) were collected from Facebook (N = 1,192,722 messages). Both regression and sentiment analysis were performed. Findings: Overall, the findings revealed positive relationships of TV show ratings with both passive social media engagement (Facebook likes) and the number of official posts. However, active social media engagement was not positively related to show ratings. Originality/value: By enhancing understanding of audience engagement with social media, our research extends knowledge related to the nature and development of viewer involvement with entertainment across different media platforms. Our results also help clarify how interpersonal communication (social media comments) and mass communication (TV programs) intersect. Practically, the findings could be applied to improve the interaction of TV audiences with show content, provide insights into the future of social TV development and inform decision-making amongst TV industry professionals.
AB - Purpose: This study aims to examine entertainment TV shows' social media accounts to theoretically and practically explore the relationship between social media engagement and the performance (represented by ratings) of such shows. Design/methodology/approach: By using the data of a popular TV show in the USA, The Voice, the present study examined the messages on the Facebook fan page of the show and how these messages correlated with the ratings of the show. Social media usage data in the course of three seasons (Seasons 10–12, 82 episodes in total) were collected from Facebook (N = 1,192,722 messages). Both regression and sentiment analysis were performed. Findings: Overall, the findings revealed positive relationships of TV show ratings with both passive social media engagement (Facebook likes) and the number of official posts. However, active social media engagement was not positively related to show ratings. Originality/value: By enhancing understanding of audience engagement with social media, our research extends knowledge related to the nature and development of viewer involvement with entertainment across different media platforms. Our results also help clarify how interpersonal communication (social media comments) and mass communication (TV programs) intersect. Practically, the findings could be applied to improve the interaction of TV audiences with show content, provide insights into the future of social TV development and inform decision-making amongst TV industry professionals.
KW - Audience engagement
KW - Facebook
KW - Ratings
KW - Social TV
KW - Social media
KW - The Voice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173044348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85173044348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0293
DO - 10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0293
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85173044348
SN - 1468-4527
VL - 47
SP - 453
EP - 468
JO - Online Information Review
JF - Online Information Review
IS - 3
ER -