“MasterChef hit by loss of favourite candidate”
(originally published by Simon Canning in The Australian July 25, 2011 12:00AM)
MASTERCHEF completely dominates online conversations about entertainment TV shows in Australia, but judges may have cruelled the program’s ratings chances when they voted off lifeguard Hayden Quinn last week.
More than 90 per cent of online conversations about Australian TV shows centre on MasterChef, but the failed contestant dominated positive social network and blog chatter about the show.
Analysis of Twitter, forums and blogs showed Quinn, who was voted off the show on Thursday despite being tipped as a shoo-in to win, averaged nearly twice as many positive comments as the next-closest competitor, publicist Dani Venn.
And the research by search media company Reprise Media, part of UM, has also revealed that the show’s strong ratings translated into even strong online media buzz.
Reprise measured nearly 39,000 conversations about the show on the internet compared with just 2952 for the closest competitor, Nine’s crime series Underbelly. Seven’s top reality show, Australia’s Got Talent, also struggled to compete in the online conversation stakes with just 1423 discussions. The survey confined itself to drama entertainment programs, which explains why ABC public affairs program Q&A did not feature.
Reprise managing director David Fernandez said the results showed that the Ten Network, which managed to extract a major increase in the price of sponsorships after the surprise success of the first series, may still have undervalued the show.
“Hayden has generated more positive buzz than any other contestant,” Mr Fernandez said.
Just 5 per cent of conversations surrounding Quinn were negative, compared with 12 per cent for Venn. But when it came to people commenting online about Quinn, a massive 34 per cent of all conversation was positive.
“What we are saying is that these properties have a much stronger value than I think even Ten realise,” he said.
“I was surprised to see the results. We do listings for brands across the group and they are not doing anything like this.”