(5) Sometimes Fandom Just Doesn’t Work
This final point is not necessarily relevant to the TV Guide poll itself, but it’s still an important lesson related to online fandom. I think many fans - myself included - occasionally forget that the entertainment industry is a business. All talk of good scripts, artistic expression, and a fan’s love for a show aside, the networks are in the business of generating ratings, which in turn generates a profit or, at least, doesn’t generate a loss. Craig Engler, who runs the SyFy network’s Twitter account, is actually very transparent and frank when answering fans’ questions about the cancellation of television shows. In two tweets he remarked: “Another great irony of the TV biz is that TV networks NEVER want to pull shows. But of course that's not the perception out there” and “TV networks, TV viewers, TV advertisers & TV distributors actually all want the same thing: Good shows that last for many years”. He also remarked that “Most shows don't make money. The ones that do help pay for the ones that don't. Which is true of most entertainment businesses”. International sales to channels in other countries and DVD sales also help to make television shows profitable.
I remember the outrage over the quick cancellation of Lone Star a few weeks ago. Before that happened, however, there was the inevitable multitude of blog posts and twitter messages pleading for more people to tune in and praises for the show. It didn’t work. Despite the fact that Lone Star was loved by critics (who, one can argue, are powerful fans themselves), the ratings of average Americans simply weren’t enough to justify the continued production of the show.
During our call, Debra made the remark that she jokes with people that if Moonlight were on the air today, it probably wouldn’t be canceled. That social platforms like Twitter could have saved it. It’s an interesting thought - that the power of online fandom has reached such a pitch that it can save most ratings-challenged shows if it has a strong enough group of devoted fans. I don’t know whether she’s right in that statement, but I can see why she would make it. At the end of the day, the question is still whether the network and the producing studio would have found Moonlight’s bottom line to be enough to keep on the air.
Of course, there have been times when fans have been successful in savings hows. Before the power of online fandoms really came to be, fans of the show Roswell sent in bottles of tabasco sauce to the studio to show their support for their shows. Fans of the ratings-challenged Jericho sent in bags of peanuts and that show came back for a second shortened season instead of simple cancellation.
Sometimes, no matter how hard the fans try - or how loud they are - they just can’t save a show. Right now Life Unexpected is on the bubble over at The CW. It was a critical darling when it first premiered last year. Unfortunately, it’s currently pulling in the lowest ratings spot on the network. But the fans are still tweeting about it and making pleas for the network to save the show. Recently, SyFy canceled Caprica, the show that was a prequel toBattlestar Galactica. Almost immediately fans rallied to save the show. But the problem with online fandom is that sometimes it only works if keeping the show makes monetary sense, or other outside circumstances. Chuck’s future at NBC has been threatened almost every year, and fans wait with bated breath to see if it will be renewed for another season. But they’re vocal. They buy Subway sandwiches (Subway has been a major sponsor for years), they plead their case online. The fact of the matter is that the show is cheaper to produce than some other NBC shows, and the ratings have generally held steady for years, even if they aren’t the best. It was recently given a full-season order this year, but that could also be due to a lack of mid-season shows to replace it if it ended. The point is that money, the number of shows a network has in its roster, and scheduling issues all go into deciding whether to keep a show on the air. The newest issue of Entertainment Weekly has a good article about why networks cancel shows that expands on the reasons I've mentioned here, so you should pick that up if you want to know more.
That’s not to say that fans should keep silent. If it came down to a network deciding the fate of two shows - with all of the other factors above being equal - it’s entirely possible that the show with the loudest and most passionate fans might win. While the fans can’t win every time, it doesn’t mean they should stop trying.
Conclusion
Whew, this turned into a rather long lesson from a simple TV Guide poll, didn’t it? But I don’t think that the trends listed above will disappear. If anything, online fandom can only get stronger. Debra told me that the “fan favorites cover poll” is something TV Guide Magazine would like to continue doing on an annual basis. In addition, the magazine is exploring other ways to give fans an opportunity to express their opinions. The fact is, the landscape of promotion and interaction has changed with the internet, and it’s refreshing to see when long-running magazines like TV Guide or television networks are willing to embrace fans, find ways to harness their promotional power, and reward them for their devotion.
Of course, the only question left is “who won the TV Guide cover poll?!” If it’s not Supernatural, I may be taking to Twitter to express my outrage. Or I may start a verbal war by saying that the Supernatural boys are cuter than that guy on Chuck and see where that leads.
Kidding. Probably.
Updated: By the way, Supernatural won the TV Guide cover poll. To read more about it (and view the cover), click here.
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Photos: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW
Awesome article. I think online fandom is very interesting. You can't really measure 'passion' but I would say that genre shows in general have a tendency to have more involved fans. I'm a casual casual Grey's fan, meaning I watch 3-4 episodes a year, I watch it and I'm done. It's not like with Supernatural were I worry about ratings, promotion, storyline, characters, online polls *wink* etc. etc. That's not true for everbody and there are certainly very devoted 'House', 'Grey's Anatomy' etc. fans but I would say that genre shows, niche audience, encourage fandom particaption. I think nowadays it's no big deal if nobody you know watches your favorite show, sure you try to convert them, but you can always talk about it online. I found that I do stick with shows longer if there is an active online fandom available for conversation purposes. That doesn't mean NCIS or other big shows don't have one but I do find myself more involved in smaller fandoms because I want the show to stick around.
I agree, it's possible that niche shows that appeal to a smaller audience strike something inside them, prompting them to be more active online. I wish we could do a study to measure the number and popularity of fan sites for smaller shows and larger shows. I tried to do that while writing this article, but just googling "CSI" and "Supernatural" didn't seem to be an accurate way to conduct an experiment.
And you're right, the online fandom community for certain shows means that you can find like-minded people on the internet and it makes the whole fan experience more interesting.
Thanks for the nice words – I'm glad you liked it!
I can forgive you for forgetting Supernatural's Salt campaign to save the show but how could you forget the most famous S.O.S. effort of all time. The one that taught fans everywhere it could be done and not only gave the show a 3rd season but eventually kicked off a franchise that made Paramount Studios a boatload of money? All the fans that watched the show originally and the fans it gained in syndication and novelization proved that it could be done. All Hail STAR TREK for Boldly Going Where No Fan Has Gone Before and showing us the way.
Zaz
and I forgot to mention, they did it before there was even an internet, internet just makes it easier
and I forgot to mention, they did it before there was even an internet, internet just makes it easier
Ach, my mistake! I only included a few recent "save our show" campaigns. But you're right, people were doing stuff like that before the internet, the internet has just brought everyone closer together and made them more connected. I think the biggest change brought on by the internet was my point about how it's changed the interaction between the networks, celebrities and fans. I think a lot of networks and producers pay closer attention to what the fans are saying now about particular storylines, etc. The internet makes it much easier for them to access that kind of information.
Shall I say, Supernatural has a stronger international fandom than other shows. A fan from Hong Kong
Supernatural is really-really international (I'm from Hungary), and our Fandom really is a devoted one. We constantly try to promote our show, and try to convert people – so to say – to have more viewers which could of course lead to another season.
I voted for the poll so much. Posted it on many social sites, especially with other SPN fans. I really-really hope we won this cover :D
Okay, I'm curious. Someone posted a link to a Chuck forum where they were using a program to cheat on the vote: http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=847…
Is that what you were refering to by "allegations of cheating"? And was it the cheating or the allegations that Debra said were not successful?
Michele,
I WAS actually referring to that very program. When I spoke to Debra she said that people were making the claims that you could use that program to vote faster. The point of the program wasn't to "cheat" in the tradition sense of having it register votes automatically (because you still had to fill in the captcha), but to register the votes quicker (perhaps in the sense of loading the page faster).
After having her IT department test the program, she said that it actually appeared that TV Guide wouldn't even log all of the votes coming from people using that program, so it wouldn't work the way that people were claiming it would. Therefore, the recommendation was for people not to use it because it wasn't even effective at cheating.
Does that answer your question?
Yes it does, thank you. Some people were a little miffed at the Chuck fans for cheating, but it sounds like it wasn't very effective cheating at least. Other Chuck fans, to their credit, said they wanted to win fair and square and refused to use it. The Chuck audience is more than twice as big as Supernatural's, and their network and producers organized a campaign with videos, posters, twitters and giveaways to get fans to vote, so it would've been a real shame that on top of those advantages they also had a program that allowed them to log votes more quickly. And to boot, Debra had said she would give the last update on the last day at 6 p.m. at which point Chuck was still maintaining its lead, but then she added another update after 9 p.m. because she "couldn't resist" letting everyone know that Supernatural had pulled in front (because many Chuck fans would've been watching Chuck from 8 to 9 p.m.) This of course ensured that the Chuck fans would go all out for the remaining 6 hours because she had broken her silence to let them know they had fallen behind. So Supernatural fans had a lot of disadvantages to overcome, and even if we came in second place, it was still a spectacular effort, and we let the network, cast, crew and writers of the show know we're still devoted.
In Poland Supernatural is very popular. For me is the best tv show ever.
What a great article. I really enjoyed reading this. Although, you now have me intrigued. Unlike one of the responders below I am pretty sure we could measure fans passion. I am a PhD student in Political Science and I study methodology (science of how to study things). If you actually want to do this or know the results please contact me over at twitter (lethiaw77) or email me (williamslb2@email.appstate.edu). Because I think I am going to try and put the data together and run it (because I'd really like to know the answer too).
Thank you so much for the article. I really wanted to see someone write an article about the fandoms in relation to this poll because to say the least it was certainly a very heated war. And each update on the standings brought with it a battle victory or a push to regain the frontlines. In fact an article like this was the second thing on my anticipation list with regards to the TV guide poll, trumped of course by my eager nervousness to know if Supernatural won or not. When you're on one side of the fence it's difficult to know exactly what was being done on the enemies side of the war besides hearsay and rumors from fellow fandom fighters (like the cheating allegations which have thankfully been cleared up). And even better to now have a story regarding what the powers that be (Debra in this case) were thinking before, during, and after the the dust had settled. It's fun to participate with other fans, help rally the troops, and help push for your favorite show to win recognition (speaking of: SPN fans are currently voting their fingers off once again for the People's Choice Awards), but for this civilian soldier, it can be even more fun to hear how it all went down, officially.
Thanks, Kayleigh, I'm so glad you liked the article. Honestly, the minute the poll closed this article idea popped into my head and I couldn't wait to write it. I thought the entire experience was a perfect example of the new reality of online fandom!
I am fan of SNT and I love winchis boys Dean and Sammy, agree SNT is a show international, I am from Paraguay on South America and promote to our winchis boys ever !!!
You're wrong.. Supernatural has at least 4 million viewers. That's why we got a Season 5.
Smantha, I'm not sure what you mean about Supernatural getting 4 million viewers. If you look on the Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_Tv#Ratings), the highest the ratings have ever been was in season 1, when it averaged around 3.84 million viewers for the season. The fourth season dropped to 3.14 and the fifth season averaged around 2.64. I don't know if those numbers include DVR add-ons, but Supernatural hasn't ever averaged 4 million viewers for live ratings in the U.S.
But the ratings are still solid enough that the show is currently in its sixth season and will likely get a seventh season as well (although, it's probably too early to predict that and a decision certainly hasn't been released).
I bet it can easily reach 4 mil with all the international watchers. Also, don't forget the fans that watch it online via iTunes. TV ratings for alot of shows are inching down in numbers, and I bet some of that is due to many people watching online instead of on TV. Eventually they're going to have to update this Nielsen rating system, lol. :)
I'm sure that it's over 4 million with international viewers, but those aren't taken into consideration with U.S. ratings. I think the CW actually takes online viewers (legal online viewers anyways) into consideration and their shows do fairly well online. But, again, the ratings quotes are based on live + DVR ratings, which is what networks really use right now as the benchmark. It will be interesting to see whether that changes in the future.
The thing that struck me is that of the top three shows two of them are Sci-Fi/Fantasy related. I can say from personal experience that Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans are passionate, loud, and somewhat crazy. I include myself in this description as I spent most of my Thanksgiving holiday at at Doctor Who convention. I am not surprised that Supernatural won.
The Supernatural fandom is a family, be it a very strange family, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
The Supernatural fandom is a family, be it a very strange family, and I'm glad to be a part of it.
Go SUPERNATURAL FANS ! I am sooo excited that they won!
Um, there was definitely lots of internet rallying for Moonlight, on LJ and Facebook and such, so don't think that would have made a difference, having one additional site to promote on. What might have saved it if CW hadn't been all "We don't want any more supernatural/genre shows"….only to pick up "The Vampire Diaries" a few years later! And then even show reruns of Moonlight…*sigh*
Interesting article though!
I don't think that having one additional site (or even 10) would necessarily save a show. That's the point I made at the end – that sometimes, unfortunately, no amount of support could save a show.
I'm not sure what the CW saw in Vampire Diaries to do a new show of that type (unless it was the vampire craze), but it obviously paid off. It's among the highest rated show on the network. I don't know what Moonlight's ratings were though…
I'm from Venezuela, and here Supernatural is a very popular TV show. The SPN fandom really is a family with no borders and I'm proud to be part of it. To me Supernatural is THE BEST TV SHOW EVER, I can't imagine my life without it. Long life SPN.
I know this doesn't apply to everyone, and yeah this article was a while ago, but I feel like commenting anyway. Anyway, I'm thinking that fanfiction plays a pretty big role too. If you go to fanfiction . net, supernatural is the most popular category out of TV shows. The more immersed into the characters and story everyone is, the more passionate about the show they get. Fanfiction probably helps a lot with that.