Is Live Tweeting Saving Appointment Viewing

By: Dominic Jones

Building of what was discussed in lecture, I will be discussing the phenomenon of live tweeting.  The concept of appointment viewing was invented by the TV networks to get people to tune into certain TV shows because everyone will be talking about it the next day.  This was done to combat the VCR and early versions of delayed viewing.  Today, TV audiences are more fragmented then ever thanks to the emergence of cable channels like HBO and AMC as well as internet platforms like Netflix and Hulu, and the proliferation of DVRs.  

Now, TV shows are trying to get audiences to tune in during the first airing of an episode through live tweeting.  We discussed in seminar the impact of Twitter on live events like Eurovision, but what about narrative shows.  Unlike singing competitions and sporting events, there is no need any more to tune in live.  Shows are now combating this by having the shows stars and creative teams tweet their reactions to episodes and interact with fans on Twitter while the episode is airing.

Deadline ran a story back in 2014 about this very phenomenon in which they discussed the benefits of this. Writer David Bloom wrote,

But there’s something special about getting the show’s team in a room, especially for scripted programs such as Scorpion that otherwise might not get watched until hours or days after their broadcast. Unlike specials, sports and reality competitions, which pretty much need to be watched in the moment, scripted shows can easily end up on the DVR, VOD or Hulu for consumption days later. Live tweeting pulls the fans back into the moment, something that’s good for advertisers, good for ratings and good for the show.

“The momentum from a live tweet has a crazy social domino effect and the buzz builds,” says Marc Karzen, CEO of RelishMix, the social-media consulting firm advising Scorpion. “The conversation in the room from live tweets take on a bigger dimension with writers posting lines and actors challenging fans.”

We live in a celebrity culture where people feel they have greater access to celebrities through social media.  By having telling people they will have a chance to interact with their favorite stars at a certain time seems like a good way to get people to tune it.  People will feel like they have to watch the show while it airs to both avoid spoilers and to know what the star is talking about (it would be hard to interact with the stars during the broadcast when you don't know what they are talking about).

While many networks still use archaic ways are determining viewership of TV shows, Live Tweeting seem to be a way to boost those numbers by encouraging people to tune in.  It can also serve as a means of demonstrating other forms of engagement that producers could show to networks to help save a show that is struggling in the traditional ratings.

Spimatic Fandom: The Perfect Chance to Plug My Podcast

By: Dominic Jones

In this week's lecture we discussed fandom and the ways in which someone is a fan, or a superfan.  The idea of Spimatic fandom is participating in the discussion or the creation of the content surrounding a fandom.  In lecture we discussed this in relation to crowdfunding, but I wanted to share the ways in which I am spimatic fan.  I help run the Star Wars Underworld fansite and podcast.  Through this, I write news articles, op-eds, and host podcasts relating to the Star Wars franchise.  Here are some examples of how I do this.

Podcasts
I host three related podcasts related to Star Wars.  The main one is The Star Wars Underworld Podcast, which is focused on discussing the news surrounding the franchise and how this affects past and future content.  There's "The Clone Wars Strikes Back" which is about celebrating and keeping alive the spirit of the show Star Wars: The Clone Wars by discussing old episodes.  And finally, there's "Live From Lothal" which discusses the weekly Star Wars Rebels episodes as they are released.  I've included the most recent episode below,

Writing
I write news stories about the Star Wars universe as they break, weekly reviews of Star Wars Rebels, and opinion pieces about Star Wars.

Reporting
I also get to go to conventions as a member of the press and interview people involved in creating new (and old) Star Wars projects film reports from these events.  As examples, I have included the interview I did with Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni at New York Comic Con as well as the analysis I did of the The Force Awakens poster from D23 this summer,

Appropriation, Objectification, Conversion, and High Holidays

By: Dominic Jones 

Following last week's lecture, here are my experiences of appropriation, objectification, conversion, and high holidays.

Appropriation:  I recently acquired a soundboard that I use for podcasting.

R2 is helping me record The Clone Wars Strikes Back this afternoon. New episode discussing the S5 Droids Arc coming tomorrow. #StarWars #TheCloneWars

A photo posted by Dominic Jones (@dominicj25) on May 12, 2015 at 1:27pm PDT

 
Objectification:  When I first acquired the soundboard I use for podcasting, it changed the layout of my desk.  I went from having my computer in the center of the desk, with space for books, papers, and small collectibles on the desk.  Once I got the board, I changed the arrangement so that nothing is centered on the desk.  Both the laptop and the board take up one side of the desk and now 

Conversion: The obvious example of this is the smartphone.  Now our primary form of communication seems to be through the phone, usually texting or other messaging apps.

High Holidays:  Again, this may be the obvious one but it's the one I have the most vivid memory off from when I was young.  9/11.  I remember being in grade two on September 11th, 2001 and I remember there was announcement before recess that during recess there was a mandatory staff meeting that all teachers must attend.  I remember after recess my teacher sitting us all down on the carpet.  What was extra significant was that she spoke to us in English, I was in french immersion and this teacher more so than any other French teacher I had until high school, avoided speaking to us in English whenever possible.  She told us that the U.S had been attacked and people had flown airplanes into buildings and knocked them down.  I also remember a letter was sent home to all the parents explaining that we had been told the facts of what had happened and nothing more and that it was up to them if they wanted to discuss it with us any further.

Star Wars Celebration Logo

By: Dominic Jones

One logo I thought would be interesting to analyze would be the logo for the Star Wars Celebration convention that Lucasfilm puts on for fans every year or two.   This is one of my favorite logos, as its a convention I have attended every one of since 2010 (including the one in Essen Germany).  So I've broken down the Dominant hegemonic position, Negotiated position, and Oppositional position of the most recent iteration of the logo which was used earlier this year for the Convention held in Anaheim and that is currently being used for the upcoming London convention held next year.

Dominant hegemonic position: The dominant hegemonic position is that this is a nice gesture on the part of Lucasfilm/Disney towards their fans, by putting on a fun event where fans can hang out and enjoy special events.

Oppositional position:  That this is another example of Lucasfilm/Disney trying to get as much money out the fans as possible, by selling the tickets at an expensive prices, selling overpriced exclusive collectibles and using the fans as a means of word of mouth marketing by showing them small previews of new projects and encouraging them to tell others about it.

Negotiated position:  While there is definitely a commercial aspect to the events, it is the coming together of fans which makes Celebration special.  The marketing aspects are fun, but it is having so many fans together in one place that makes the event truly special.

My iPhone and Gratification

By: Dominic Jones

When asked in lecture to consider what's a technology we recently acquired and the gratification we seek from it, there is really one big answer my phone.  iPhone more accurately.  My phone checks off all the different types of gratification,

Modality-based Gratifications: Presents images, videos, sounds, and texts. 

Agency-based Gratifications: Allows for me to pick and choose what types of entertainment I want to enjoy at the moment, including music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, games, etc.

Interactivity-Based Gratifications: Allows for communication with people all over the world, via phone, text message, and various social media apps (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.)

Navigability-Based Gratifications: Allows for Internet surfing, many websites can be visited in the web browser.  In addition, there is seemingly lots of choice among applications to put on the phone.

While I'm sure I'm not the only person to have written about their phone, I'm sure you can understand why.  As I pointed out above, the phone checks off the four types of gratification in a significant way.

Audiences in the News: "The New 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Trailer Is Not For You"

By: Dominic Jones

In the lead up to the release of the new trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens I came across an article on Forbes, written by Scott Mendelson titled "The New 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Trailer Is Not For You."  In the article Mendelson argues that the trailer, which debutted during Monday Night Football on ESPN, is not intended for the legions of Star Wars fans that already exist and already have plans to see the movie (myself included - obviously, look around my blog if you can tell I'm a huge Star Wars fanatic than you need your eyes checked!), but rather than it's intended for the people who may not be aware of the film or, more accurately probably, know the film is happening but don't know anything about it.

Mendelson writes,

"You are already onboard and frankly have been since October 31, 2012. And that’s why this new trailer is debuting during a football game. 

Yes, football fans can and do like Star Wars as well, and yes the demographics for a given prime-time game are somewhat divided in terms of age and gender. But the audience that Walt Disney and Lucasfilm are after is the one that just happens to be watching the New York Giants playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field and is surprised by the trailer or at least is watching tonight for the actual football game and not the trailer drop. People like my older brother for instance.

He grew up with Star Wars and was a bigger fan than I was, since he was just old enough to experience Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in theaters. But he moved on and is the kind of person that almost never goes to a movie theater save when he is taking his kids to something animated or kid-friendly. If he is watching tonight’s game, it will be for the football and not the new Star Wars trailer. Yet he will probably be somewhat interested in whatever Disney is selling tonight."

I think Mendelson raises some interesting points about who the intended audience is for the trailer.   And I think he's right.  I loved the trailer.  I sat half a football game, a sport I can barely stand to watch during the Super Bowl (hockey and baseball are more my speed) just to have a look at the trailer first.  And it did nothing to convince me to buy a ticket.  In fact, I had bought me ticket 45 minutes before the trailer aired on ESPN (well, TSN here in Canada but whatever).  I was already excited for the film and, sure the trailer made me even more excited, but I already knew I was seeing the film on opening night and had been planning on doing so since I first read the headlines announcing the film on October 30th, 2012.

I think Disney (who owns both Star Wars and ESPN) is doing the right thing by corss-promoting.  It would beeasy to live in the echo chamber of internet fandom, where it seems The Force Awakens will not only surpass Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time, but will do so by several billion (yes, billion) dollars.  And while Star Wars fandom is certainly larger than most (demand for tickets were so high on Monday multiple ticket selling websites had their servers crash - and the previous trailer set world records for number of views online), but even Star Wars needs to reach beyond it's base to achieve the highs Disney, who paid $4.05 billion for it, want it to.

I am very curious to here what a non-hard core fan thought of the trailer, someone like Mendelson's brother.  The trailer was clearly designed with them in mind.  Classic characters like Harrison Ford's Han Solo, Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia, and Chewbacca the Wookiee had more of a presnece in this trailer than in the two teasers that had come prior (Solo and Chewie only appeared for one shot at the end of the second trailer and Leia's hand was all that could be seen in an earlier shot).  In addition, there seemed to be a focus on the return of iconic vehicles like X-Wings, TIE Fighters, and the Millennium Falcon.  

The trailer definitely seemed to be focused on the fans like Mendelson's brother, those who haven't thought about Star Wars much about since the 80s.  The question is, did it reach them?  Are they going to be in line with me on December 18th?  (Or at any subsequent showings of the movie?)  Only time will tell. 

Thanksgiving Audiences: Baseball Takes the Turkey

By: Dominic Jones

The age old tradition on Thanksgiving is to argue with your relatives about politics, stuff yourself with Turkey, and then sit down on the couch and watch football.  This year, there was a slight variation on that.  It definitely wasn't the politics (if anything, that was more intense most places given that there's an election coming up) and certainly wasn't the Turkey either.  No, it was the football.  With the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs for the first time in 22 years (aka, the first time in my lifetime), all eyes were not on football, but rather on baseball!

According the Yahoo! Canada's "Great Canadian Ratings Report," it is clear that Baseball dominated the airwaves (or cable ways) in Canada this thanksgiving weekend.  Via Yahoo!, here are the top ten highest rated Sporting programs in Canada for the Thanksgiving weekend,

1. MLB, Blue Jays at Rangers, Monday, Sportsnet: 4,380,000

2. MLB, Blue Jays at Rangers, Sunday, Sportsnet: 4,170,000

3. MLB, Rangers at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 2,400,000

4. NHL, Habs-Bruins/Leafs-Sens/Oilers-Preds, Saturday, CBC-Sportsnet: 2,100,000

5. NFL, Cowboys-Pats/Cards-Lions, Sunday, CTV-TSN: 970,000

6. NHL, Flames at Canucks, Saturday, CBC: 961,000

7. NFL, Bills-Titans/Seahawks-Bengals/Rams-Packers/Bears-Chiefs, Sunday, CTV: 813,000

8. NHL, Maple Leafs at Red Wings, Friday, Sportsnet One: 587,000

9. CFL, Eskimos at Stampeders, Saturday, TSN: 545,000

10. CFL, Roughriders at Ticats, Friday, TSN: 463,000

As you can see, Baseball dominated the top three spots, with the numbers increasing as each game went up.  The NFL didn't make the list until #5, still sitting behind both Baseball and Hockey.  And the CFL didn't make the list until #9.  

While I'm sure this may have been a shock for some advertisers this year, I doubt this trend will continue.  Next year, I expect Football will be back near the top of the list.  This is likely an anomaly, because usually there isn't Baseball relevant to casual fans in Canada in October.  This was the first Blue Jays playoff appearance in over twenty years, and odds are they won't be back next year.  The Baseball playoffs are notoriously hard to get into (far fewer teams qualify than in the NBA or NHL where over half the league qualifies) and the Jays would have to repeat this year's success.  Not to say that that's impossible, lots of the Jays key players will remain with the club through the 2016 season but others (like star pitcher David Price) are apt to leave and the Jays will have to replace their production.

In other words, the advertisers who may have been a little caught off guard by the Blue Jays success shouldn't feel too bad about this.  The tradition may have slipped this year, but unless the Blue Jays can repeat their success, I would expect the NFL to be back at (or near) the top of the list next year.  And if the Jays do make the playoffs, they have these numbers to turn to when making decisions.

Drama in the Polls: Looking Back at the Advanced Polls Failure in the U.K. Election

By: Dominic Jones

When reading in our textbook Media Matters: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power by John L. Sullivan, I came across the line "Opinion surveys are therefor quite useful as neutral touchstones for political debate" (69).  It made me think back to the U.K. general election earlier this year where Prime Minister David Cameron was re-elected by a large margin, despite advance polls showing his Conservatives being basically tied with the left wing Labour party.

With our own election coming up, I have been very skeptical of any polls for this very reason.  And reading that line in the textbook made me wonder if I should be concerned about other political polls, not about who will win the election but about the public's opinion on various issues.  In the textbook, the history of polling was explored in great detail so it's easy to see why traditional polling is being relied on when it's worked for so long.  

But the U.K shows how the system can be rigged by the pollsters.  I came across an article in the Telegraph from after the election by Dan Hodges, titled "Why did the polls get it wrong at the general election? Because they lied."  In the article Hodges goes over how the polls started off with wide gaps between the parties and the gaps shrunk as the election approached to where it appeared there would be a virtual tie between Labour and the Conservatives.

Hodges argues that polling companies came together to ensure that their numbers were similar, as to not look bad if they all had different results.  He explains the problem with this saying,

"Polls aren’t just used to predict election results, they’re also used to try to influence election results. A few days before polling day the BBC produced an all-singing, all-dancing full page online interactive graphic detailing the “Close constituency battles” it said were “being fought with less than a week to go before the general election”. At the bottom, it carried this small disclaimer. 'Most of the polling shown was commissioned from independent polling companies by former Conservative party deputy chairman and donor Lord Ashcroft. Seven were conducted by Survation on behalf of UKIP donor Alan Bown or trade union Unite. One was carried out by ICM for former Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott.'

If the polling companies don’t want to be regulated, fine. But let’s not pretend we don’t know why they got it wrong on 7 May. Because we do."

Polls are important to both the people and the parties.  We need accurate reflections of what the vote will be.  If companies are going to come together like this and influence results by putting out bad information then shouldn't they be held to the same standards as politicians running.  That if they do wrong by the people they won't get their job back in the next election.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

It's not unique to the U.K. either, Hodges points to an article by Nate Silver about a similar occurrence in the 2014 US election.  One can understand why the polling companies would not want to look like the outlier and risk being the only one to get it wrong and would therefore come together.  But when they all get it wrong, then we have an epidemic on our hands.  Once the Canadian election is over, it will be interesting to go back and see not only how accurate were the polls, but how similar were they as well.

Cultivation Theory: Life is Just One Big 'How I Met Your Mother' Reference

By: Dominic Jones

One of the most fascinating theories we have explored in lecture is Cultivation Theory, the idea that people who watch a lot TV it tends to affect their understanding of lived reality.  This jumped out at me because I've often found myself relating real life occurrences to events from television.  One show I would often relate things to was How I Met Your Mother, leading my own mother to tell me on multiple occasions "Life is just one big How I Met Your Mother reference to you, isn't it?"

I'm slightly exaggerating for effect of this theory on me, but it still made me think about the way I view life.  I don't think I'm one of those people who thinks there more crime than there is because I like the show Arrow (or any other action show for that matter), but then again I tend to relate my own experiences (and the experiences of others) to sitcoms so who knows?

Audiences in the News: Stephen Colbert Shuts Down Rowdy Audience During Ted Cruz Interview

By: Dominic Jones

On a recent episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host Stephen Colbert was interviewing controversial US Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz when his audience got a little rowdy and began booing Cruz.  Colbert ultimately told the audience to stop, as seen in the clip below at around 3:55,

 

What interests me about this is that the late night talk show is usually a venue that encourages a certain level or rowdyness.  Audience members are encouraged to cheer when the stars are introduced and laugh at their jokes and stories.  However, it seems that there is some line that is crossed here where the rowdyism becomes unacceptable.  And that line appears to be booing.  

It begs the question of why rowdyness is acceptable at some times and not at others.  Ultimately it seems to come down to the idea of the upper class wanting to feel safe, as discussed in lecture.  The audience, who are not lower class necessarily (more likely a middle class audience), is a lower class than the celebrities and politicians on stage.  Colbert and Cruz (or whoever may be the guest) represent the upper class and are likely OK with rowdyness when it is positive, but when it becomes negative they may fear for what may happen next.

Much like audiences in the past where the lower class out numbered the upper class, the people in the audience outnumber greatly the two men on stage.  When the rowdyness is positive, the celebrities will feel safe as they are being celebrated.  However, if it becomes negative -as it does in the clip above- Colbert will want to put a cap on it so that things don't get out of hand.  This concern is likely heightened when someone controversial like Senator Cruz is the guest.  Cruz is a far right politician, where as Colbert's audience tends to be left leaning.  It's not hard to imagine a situation where Cruz could be feel threatened if an audience of people who disagree with him are getting rowdy.  From that standpoint, one can understand why Colbert (who likely agrees with the audience members booing Cruz on the issue being discussed) would shut down the negative rowdyness.  As host, it is his responsibility to ensure his guests feel safe, and that means controlling the rowdyness so things don't get out of hand.

Audience Definition

By: Dominic Jones

When searching for a definition of an audience I found that most definitions did not properly reflect what audiences truly are, especially today.  Most sources wanted to differentiate between an audience that is in the same room as a performance or screening and an audience made up of people all watching the same thing from separate locations.  Meriam-Webster, TheFreeDictionary.com, MacMillan Dictionary, and Oxford Dictionaries all made this distinction in their definitions.  Because of this, I settled on the simple definition from WordReference.com as my definition of choice for audience,

audience

the group of people listening to or viewing a public event.

While this may seem overly simplistic, I feel it is the most accurate definition given today's changing landscape.  I feel that an audience is all the people viewing an event, rather than just those in the location.  I believe this especially now due to live broadcasts and streaming of public events.  The practice of broadcasting events live has existed for a long time, through television broadcasts of live sports and other moments of cultural significance.  Whether a person is there in person or not, bears little significance on what they see.  Both "groups" (for lack of a better term) can still relate to and connect over what they just saw.

In some cases, such as TV shows, the only audience is people watching from separate locations.  But even then, all people who watched will be able to connect with and relate to other people who also watched, even though they didn't watch from the same location.

For some anecdotal evidence, last April I attended Star Wars Celebration - a massive fan convention celebration the Star Wars franchise.  There were 60,000 fans in attendance, but a good portion of the convention was also live streamed on YouTube.  One of the events that was live streamed on YouTube was a presentation about the upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, during which a fully functioning BB-8 droid (a new character from the new movie, pictured right - on stage at Celebration next to R2-D2) rolled out on stage.  A friend of mine couldn't attend Celebration, but was able to experience this moment on the live stream and we were able to discuss our reactions to seeing this happen live even though I was there in person and he was watching for a computer thousands of kilometres away.

While there may be some superficial differences, ultimately everybody watching experiences the same event, whether they are there or not.  "The group of people listening to or viewing a public event" to me has to include those who are not there in person but are watching via television or the internet.  In this day and age where virtually everything is live streamed online, it is foolish to not differentiate between those watching, but not present in person at the event and those who are present at the event.