Scandal had the most repeat Tweeters, with 24 percent of those writing about the ABC drama doing so for three or more episodes. Coming in at a close second was AMC’s The Walking Dead with 23 percent. Each show has been on air for multiple seasons (four and five, respectively), but longevity isn’t required for loyalty. Although in just their first season, Empire and How to Get Away With Murder managed to tie for third (22 percent). Other buzzed-about shows on Twitter were Sons of Anarchy and Blue Bloods (tied at 21 percent), as well as Grimm, Sleepy Hollow, Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood, and Love & Hip-Hop (each with 20 percent).
Not only did these fans send out tweets about more episodes across the season, for each individual episode they also posted more times. Nielsen Social found that those who’d written about at least three episodes tweeted 2.8 times as many messages per episode than did other fans. Not surprisingly, season premieres and finales were especially popular episodes to discuss on the social network.
Does the loyalty of fans on Twitter matter, though? It may. The study found that these loyal authors tended to have about 50 percent more followers, and sent out 70 percent more brand-related tweets. Based on that, Nielsen Social pointed out an opportunity for networks and advertisers to “maximize earned media driven by TV content and advertising” by “identifying and cultivating relationships” with such fans.
Moving forward, networks and advertisers will have to determine the best way to tap into these groups. That won’t be the only challenge, though; networks will also have to figure out how these particular shows developed such loyal fan bases in the first place.
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