TV viewer-ship is South Africa has increased over the past 10 years, the image below is the research that shows the trend.
But the question we should be asking is, why has viewer-ship grown? At eNitiate we conducted an online analysis and discovered that the debates on social media about TV shows leads viewers back to the couch so that they can watch and later participate in online debates about characters and their actions.
Let us analyze a character from the popular Generations soap on SABC 1 - ‘Phenyo’
‘Phenyo’s' mentions jumped to over 4000 in one evening of the soap and in total for the month just shy of 16000. Online influencers were driving conversations about ‘Phenyo’ and their followers were engaging through replies, comments and retweets.
Who drove these twitter conversations?
Conversations have been driven by twitter influencers and on the night of the 24th of September incfluencers such as @TrevorMadondo (media personality), @mslelob (blogger & JustCurious founder), @nkanyezikubheka (DJ) and @TshepiVundla (Daughter of Generations creator Mfundi Vundla). These were the top influencers on the night and their online engagements ensured that viewers were glued to their screens and participated in online debates.
•Influencers are driving discussions on social media about TV shows and providing commentary.•You can ‘watch’ a detailed episode of Generations on twitter or Facebook based on posts and images of the episode from viewersOnline discussions led by influencers on social networks have driven other netizens back to the couch to watch their favorite TV shows so that they can partake in online debates…
…Social media does contribute to the growth in TV views.