April 26, 2024

Is Social Media Helping or Hurting The TV Industry?

Social media can help fuel word-of-mouth, but with its addictive nature, does social media contribute to or collapse the TV industry? By: Kritchanon Tan Kian Wei

From Disney’s The Mandalorian (2019-Present) to Netflix’s Squid Game (2021-Present),  many TV series have gone viral and expanded their reach thanks to the power of social media. However, in this attention economy, the addictive nature of social media is certainly also taking lots of eyeballs away from the big screen, and towards the small ones. This begs the question: is social media a bane or a boon to the TV industry?

There certainly have been moments where social media greatly benefitted television. Other than the aforementioned viral TV series that have risen to fame in large part due to memes and word-of-mouth online, television events have also gained lots of additional coverage and viewership thanks to social media. 

Take for instance, how the 2022 Oscars were covered much more widely than usual after the shocking moment when movie star Will Smith slapped the comedian Chris Rock. The extra coverage and the hopes of witnessing a similar event live in future shows did interest lots of potential viewers, and the Oscars, which has seen decreasing viewership until the 2022 showing, saw an increase in viewership in 2023 and 2024. Sensational moments that tend to go viral on social media, like Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken performance at the most recent Oscars, help keep audiences interested in the event.

A similar example came recently in February 2024, when megastar and Spotify’s global #1 artist Taylor Swift attended the Super Bowl LVIII to support boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce right after the Tokyo stop of her record-breaking, social media viral Eras Tour. The 2024 Super Bowl ended up becoming the most-viewed television event in history, likely due to Swifties flocking to watch this year’s showing in addition to sports fans who make up the event’s regular viewers.

However, whilst social media has definitely greatly benefitted the occasional show or live event occasionally, when you look at the industry as a whole, the industry has certainly been on a decline since the advent of social media. Television was once the undisputed champion of advertising, but today, more and more advertisers are turning to social media to promote their brand’s products and services, given its generally lower costs and greater ability to target a specific audience subset.

According to Statista, spending on traditional TV advertising is on a downward trend, while digital video advertising has been growing. When advertisers arguably form the backbone of the TV industry, it’s hard not to say that the overall industry is on a decline if advertisers are slowly but surely turning to other options.

Though social media has been a bane to the TV industry as a whole, it has been an occasional boon to several shows and events, teaching us that if creators and studios adapt to this new entertainment landscape, and produce shows and events that audiences love and that will go viral, social media can be successfully leveraged, turning it from a distraction to a tool, or an enemy to an ally.

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