Fall's buzziest shows: 'Gotham,' 'Murder'
Three weeks into the new TV season, viewers' are sorting out their favorites.
More folks are talking about new shows than last fall, and more of those conversations are positive, according to new data from a survey about the 24 new broadcast series conducted by research firm Keller Fay Group, provided exclusively to Paste BN. While Twitter and Facebook often are used as measuring sticks for buzz, 90% of conversations about TV shows take place one-on-one, the firm says.
Fox's Gotham and ABC's How to Get Away With Murder remained in the top two spots last week — the study's third — as word of mouth about both shows continued to rise.
"That's a sign they have a really good opportunity to continue to grow their audience," says Keller Fay CEO Ed Keller. With more online and on-demand options, "if people start hearing about a show and miss three or four episodes, they can catch up easily."
CW's The Flash had been among the 10 most buzzed-about network series since the season began, but moved up to fifth place following its Oct. 7 premiere. And NBC's The Mysteries of Laura re-entered the top 10, joined by sitcom Bad Judge, as Fox's Red Band Society and ABC's Forever lost steam.
Love/hate relationship
Not all word of mouth is equal: A truer test of a show's viability is not just chatter but how positive or negative the talk has turned. While social-media sites use computer algorithms to infer whether chatter is positive or negative, this research asks viewers directly. Among the top 10, CBS' Scorpion had the most positive word of mouth with a score of 59, which represents the percentage of those who praised it minus the percentage who dissed it or were mixed. Madam Secretary and Murder also had "sentiment" scores of 50 or higher.
Bad Judge had a positive score of just 18, and ABC sitcom Selfie had the most negative buzz of any show: With a score of minus 6, more people talked trash about it than praised it, a harbinger of a steep ratings slide. ABC's Forever had the highest positive score of any show but sparked a lower volume of chatter than last week, suggesting those who've stuck with it — and still talk about it — are true fans. But no new show was as highly praised as NBC's The Blacklist was last year, nor was any dinged as much as NBC's Michael J. Fox Show was at this point in its run.
Mars. vs. Venus
The Flash was the most polarizing show when it comes to gender: The DC Comics' adaptation sparked more than twice as much chatter among men, and much more of it was positive, with a score of 54, compared with a 34 among women. In contrast, ABC's female-skewing Murder was the most talked-about show among women, but still ranked fifth among men, and the chatter was about evenly split: Women gave it a positive score of 52, while men were only slightly lower, at 48.
Does buzz matter?
Ratings are TV's currency for selling advertising, but talk about new shows is an important tool in building audiences, says CBS research chief David Poltrack. "If there is a lot of word-of-mouth around a show, you want to accelerate that through promotional efforts," by featuring beloved characters in promos or avoiding those that aren't clicking with viewers.
Ten most talked-about new network series
1. Gotham (Fox) +41 9.3
2. How to Get Away With Murder (ABC) +50 14.6
3. NCIS: New Orleans (CBS) +46 17.8
4. Scorpion (CBS) +59 14.9
5. The Flash (CW) +44 6.4
6. Black-ish (ABC) +34 10.1
7. Stalker (CBS) +46 8.6
8. Madam Secretary (CBS) +54 13.0
9. Bad Judge (NBC) +18 5.5
10. The Mysteries of Laura (NBC) +50 9.8
Based on a representative sample of 1,457 viewers ages 13 to 69 conducted Oct. 6-12, 2014, with positive sentiment score and season-to-date viewership, in millions. Sources: Keller Fay Group, Nielsen.