Channel 4 gets good vibes for letting Facebookers choose the repeats
In the old days, the idea of showing a repeat of a TV programme a day after the original show would have struck most people as barmy. But Channel4 is generating buzz in the UK and US with its new channel 4Seven which launches on July 4 - and is doing just that.
Social media rules!
The difference is that viewers will effectively choose the shows as C4 monitors Facebook and Twitter and other social media . The views of critics will be also taken into account.
The 8pm and 10pm slots each evening will be set aside for repeats from the previous day, preceded by a snappy selection of comments, good and bad.
The rest of the programmes on 4Seven will be reruns of the most popular ones of the week.
"We think it is the first time a channel has incorporated the views of viewers into what goes on air. We will run a montage of comments before the programme starts, the rough with the smooth, not just propaganda," Dan Brooke, Channel 4's chief marketing and communications officer told the Observer .
Brooke added, "Repeats used to be a dirty word, but now there is so much on that viewers say they are missing the best stuff they want to see. When we did research we found the appeal of this channel was across the board. "
Programmers can be taken aback by the sudden success, for example with the US import Homeland is the most recent example.
My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding started as a single documentary two years ago with 6.4 million viewers- three times the amount expected and then became a hit series.
Tess Alps, executive chair of Thinkbox, which represents commercial TV channels, said: "I think it is a very clever idea and very Channel 4, in the sense that their audience, which trends towards younger adults, use social media disproportionately.
"People also watch certain TV programmes so they can join in conversations about them."
The American magazine Ad Age points out that 90.6% of all TV is still watched live in the U.K. in 2011.
Steve Parker, partner at The Social Practice, part of CHI Group, told Ad Age tapping into behaviour that is already happening was a "good insight". "With social-media analysis tools, you can look at sentiment and volume and build your schedule for the next day."
Channel 4 will fill 4Seven's schedule with shows from its whole stable of TV stations, including E4, More4 and Film4.
Jim Dowling, managing partner at Cake, which handles social media for Sony, Ikea and Carphone Warehouse in the US , thought 4Seven was a great idea.
"The opinion people trust the most is that of their friends, not TV critics or commissioning editors," told Ad Age . " I like the idea of a broadcaster listening to its audience and serving up what it wants."