Grammys Vs. Zombies

 

by Aaron Gasperi

Think of how many times you’ve been to the video rental store this year versus how many times you went just five years ago.  It started slowly at first, Netflix with their mail order DVDs, then began to accelerate with the proliferation of streaming and smartphones.   We’re getting progressively further away from a one-channel audience. 

How many decks or studies have we all seen that tell us that consumers’ attention is further split?  It undermines traditional buying, strategy, and as a whole makes single-channel buying less effective and more expensive to achieve the same results that were achieved the year before. 

What IS of note, however, is the increase in studies showing improved results when media and ads are delivered across channels in support of television.  For example, eMarketer has data showing multiscreen driving a 48% lift in ad recall for a 15 second ad featuring a premium sports sedan.

Great, another study. 

Now, consider the Grammys.  39 Million people tuned in this year, a great year for them, in fact, the best since 1984.  And, at the same time, The Walking Dead drew 8.1 million total viewers with a mid-season premiere. 

Hold on a second.  A cable drama about zombies drew 20% of the audience of the Grammys, while the Grammys were having a banner tune-in?  What’s going on here?

Hands down, part of it’s content.  Zombies are just plain cool.  Part of it’s how AMC is engaging it’s viewership.  It’s Grammys Vs. Zombies, Old Vs. New.

The Walking Dead also premiered their companion App on 2/12.  Yes, The Walking Dead is now engaging via your ipad.  Are zombies the reason for near viral viewership growth, or is it multi-channel experience?  Your call.