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Were you part of Monday’s #NotANielsenFamily Twitter campaign, spearheaded by We Give a Chuck? The idea was to send Tweets to companies who advertised on Chuck during the hour, whether via product placement (Super Shuttle) or traditional commercial (Diet Pepsi, Stouffer’s). The response from the companies was terrific, and now EW.com has picked up the story:
This week marked the beginning of a Twitter campaign spearheaded by fan site We Give a Chuck that aimed to let the show’s advertisers know, well, that they exist. Using the hashtag #NotaNielsenFamily, the fandom banded together in hopes of letting Chuck‘s many advertisers that the oft-criticized Nielsen ratings system doesn’t speak to what they claim the true numbers the show is really pulling in.
On Monday — and for the next few weeks, apparently — the group sent Tweets to the advertisers during the show in hopes of getting their attention. (Example: “@Tide just saw your ad on @NBC’s #Chuck. Thx! You support Chuck, I’ll support you PS-I use the to-go stick all the time! #NotANielsenFamily”) And oddly enough, they worked. Diet Pepsi’s Twitter account responded to the outpour that evening, saying “Wow! #chuck fans are awesome! Thanks for all the support!!!! #notanielsenfamily.“
In their bubble show analysis, EW’s Lynette Rice and James Hibberd said the show (which averages 5.9 million viewers) had one major strength: “[It’s] perhaps NBC’s only drama that can blow up Twitter.” And it looks like the fandom is going to do exactly that to accomplish their mission, which they tend to take as seriously as Chuck takes his.
Kudos to WGAC for coming up with such an easy yet effective campaign. We encourage you to join the fun on Monday (yes, even though Chuck is a rerun) and let the advertisers know that Chuck fans are engaged viewers.
We are powerful!
I know some say this is pointless, maybe it is but I enjoy TRYING to make a difference (being careful not to spam TOO much).
I can’t afford to buy a new Sienna but I did mail Mattel a thank you note with my sales slip from purchasing a new Uno deck.
We are mighty, we are many, we are Chuck fans!
Hey Mel, how about an interview with the person(s) behind Who Gives a Chuck? I’d like to know more about these creative people who are helping to unite fans in grabbing the attention of Chuck advertisers. This has the possibility of being as effective as the Chuck Subway campaign.
If chuck fans can out vote those online polls i bet we can tweet like crazy to the advertizers. Plus international fans can join in too! I might just get a tweeter acct just for this!! hehe!
only for in show advertising, i for my part do not see the normal advertisement
So did Wired.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/04/chuck-fans-take-to-twitter/
😀
OK, so how about an idea that might make a real diffference. Right now, Neilsens show a little over 4MM viewers. Leaving aside whether that’s accurate, let’s use it as a baseline. Of those, how many are fanatic — 10%, or 400K? Do we think that 10% of that 10% might put their money where there mouths are? In other words, would 40K viewers put up, say $5 per episode (or $60 for 13 episodes) to make is more economically feasible to produce the show? If 40K did, that’s $200K per episode. If 100K did, that’s $500K per episode. Either number, i have to believe, is significant.
The idea is to give WB (and thus NBC) a way to either keep costs down, or else increase budget per episode to allow for more exotic locales etc.
Does anyone think this has traction? And are Chuck fans willing to put their money where their keystrokes are?
Mel, maybe run a separate thread for comments on it, or poll?
The issue isn’t the cost of producing the show (it’s already pretty cheap, and Warner Bros. is willing to take a loss in order to get more episodes for syndication), but whether or not NBC can make enough money from advertisers for it to be worth their while to air it. That’s why we’re targeting the advertisers, to show them that Chuck fans are more engaged than most and notice which brands support the show.
Got it. Although if the cost WB charges NBC is reduced by the fan payments, the amount that NBC needs to collect from advertisers in order to make a profit is reduced, yes?
Sure, but WB doesn’t really need fan payments to reduce the cost. They have enough profitability to be able to afford to give NBC a very, very, very good deal on Chuck. It’s up to NBC to decide if that low licensing fee is worth keeping the show. (FYI, I’m still optimistic about a fifth season. WB really wants it and NBC has bigger issues to deal with than Mondays at 8PM.)
I don’t have a Twitter page, but I will do EVERYTHING IN MY POWER AS A CHUCK FAN to keep Chuck on the air. I believe that as long as they want to do the show, they should be able to, know what I mean?
Love,
John
President, Indiana Buy-Moria Embassy
AWESOME #NotaNeilsenfamily is doing a great thing, and it so easy we can all pitch in. Lets save CHUCK.
Hi guys, it’s Amyabn from ChuckThis. We have a page with all the twitter handles and Facebook pages for many Chuck advertisers. Please feel free to stop by and tweet and “friend” these sponsors to your hearts content! http://chuckthisblog.wordpress.com/thank-advertisers/