By Melanie Hoffman
Today there was a story on the Yahoo! homepage about the rise in popularity of SNL. The article (found at http://tv.yahoo.com/show/194/news/urn:newsml:tv.reuters.com:20081006:us_snl__ER:48828) said that with Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin, that SNL was becoming more popular as it once was when it first aired.
The only discrepency is that the article attributed the number of views that individual clips had on YouTube, and not the overall views of the show when it aired. And although this count is up as well, the overall popularity of SNL is being measured by views on YouTube.
So, does this really mean that the show is now more popular than it was before? or that YouTube being used more, and clips have more views onlinen than on live television? This applies to other TV shows as well, especially shows whose full episodes are available online right after they premire.
7 Comments
October 6, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I believe using the ratings system of Youtube over the traditional TV ratings is a better system. It incorporates a lot of previously unnoticed viewers. For instance, prime time SNL may not be easy to view by everyone. The internet, and specifically Youtube, would be available to a wider range of people. Those in 2nd and 3rd world countries could have an easier time looking up Youtube as apposed to trying to get an expensive TV receiver and possibly a provider package. Also those who could not view the show due to scheduling conflicts can easily go online and see the show. Its in this access argument that we see the smart money is on the measurement using Youtube as apposed to TV ratings.
October 7, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I think that a lot of shows have this problem. It is definitely the popularity of the show that is improving if only the ratings on their clips are increasing. Sure, people are going on the youtube site, but only to see an SNL skit. This has been a problem with a lot of writers for the shows today because more viewers watch shows online and not at the time they air. With the busy schedules that we live today, it is hard to watch what we want when it is live. This makes it easy to watch things online when we are in bed or at home from work or school or wherever we have been all day. This was also the reason for the writers strike last year because the writers weren’t getting credit for what they worked for thanks to online viewings. Is this something that we should continue to worry about even though the writers are back and working?
October 8, 2008 at 2:05 pm
This definitely is the same problem that caused the writers strike last fall as Sarah has mentioned above. It is such a predicament because the availability of shows online causes the shows to have increased viewings. However, this same factor that causes the increased viewings also takes the credit away from the writer. The companies tend to focus more on the wants and needs of the consumer rather than providing enough credit to those who create the shows. It is a difficult situation because without the writers no shows would exist and without the viewers there would be no reason to create shows. Is there such thing as a happy medium in these cases? Or is the struggle between the producer favoring the wishes of the viewers over those of the writers going to continue?
October 8, 2008 at 4:32 pm
The rise of YouTube popularity certainly has affected our society in numerous ways–first of all, it lets us as consumers add in any time of short film we want, allowing participatory culture to prevail. It adheres to our modern interests of adding to a site our thoughts/ideas and others commenting. Well, the same is when it comes to actual viewings. Many consumers want to be able to watch just the certain part of a show that made it memorable, and then they have the ability to comment on it. This certainly isn’t a new concept, and television shows and networks are desperately trying to draw their audiences back. This is exemplified in networks putting their shows and such on their website for consumers to watch, in order to try and draw them away from collaborative sites such as YouTube. Overall, there’s no doubt this is affecting the media production industry, but it yet is just another progression of technology in this era and it’s up to the corporations to adapt to consumer habits.
October 13, 2008 at 12:53 am
Youtube and other sites displaying videos of television shows has made it possible for more people to watch those shows. In the past, viewers would either have to watch the show at the time it aired, record the show, or watch a re-run of the show if it happened to air. However, fans that are not very passionate of a certain show are likely not to show the watch at all unless it happen to be on at a time they were watching television. Video viewing websites allows more people to access shows at times that fit perfect into their schedules. In terms of popularity, it is not that more people have the desire to watch a show, it is more like people now have more of an oppurtunity to watch a show. Television has evolved to become interconnected with the web and that has expanded the potential audience of all shows.
October 30, 2008 at 6:06 pm
If there are sooo many clips online and so much discussion about these clips and aspects of the show, does this not mean that people are watching the show more, thus recording and posting such clips online? Even though youtube may not have been as easily accessible before as it is now, there is still a lof of conversation about snl skits and i have noticed more people (especially younger) now than ever before actually watching the show. I do believe that the show has become way more poplular recently, especially since a lot of its focus recently has been on politics, which EVERYONE can relate to.
December 13, 2008 at 2:35 am
I think this proves more that YouTube is becoming more and more popular, not SNL. Okay, maybe Saturday Night Live might get some more viewers because of the phenomenal performance put on by Tina Fey, but who has time to conform to the schedule that NBC puts out there. Especially on a Saturday night, most people, not only college students, but even adults are out until close to midnight. YouTube is such a popular site because of the convenience that it brings to all of our lives. Not only that, but it also allows us to watch what we want without sitting through annoying advertisements. This is the same reason why TiVos are becoming so popular as well.