As summer is now in full swing, the 2014-15 broadcast television season is officially history. Just before the start of the season, in September, we examined how the previous year’s renewals often times had greater success in social engagement. For example, The Blacklist was not only last year’s breakout hit, but also had the most growth in fans commenting, liking content, etc., on the show’s social profiles. What can we learn from viewers’ and social media fans’ reactions to this year’s freshman shows that have now completed their run?

1. Where there’s growth, there’s renewal (still).

This holds true from last year. In fact, shows with an above-average growth rate in the number of engaged fans (versus the percentage of fans that are engaged) are 1.5x more likely to be renewed than shows that have below-average growth rate. While renewal or cancellation is almost entirely dictated on a show’s performance in the ratings, the social engagement growth factor cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence. Nearly all TV shows’ engaged fans grow over time, but, as they say, there’s a lot of real estate between the renewed Scorpion (multiplying its fan base by nearly 20 from its premiere to finale) vs. the canceled Manhattan Love Story (only +6% in four weeks on the air).

2. The shows with the most social engagement growth might be unexpected.

The top two shows with the greatest social engagement growth are Scorpion and Madam Secretary – both CBS dramas. We are looking only at freshman broadcast series for the purposes of this blog post, but it’s worth noting that Scorpion’s growth rate more than doubled that of Amazon’s groundbreaking Transparent over the course of this season. Even as NBC’s recently renewed Aquarius could prove to be a case study in effectively balancing broadcast and streaming models, it’s important to remember that weekly serialized dramas are a great opportunity to make an impact on social – whether you’re the network or the advertiser.

3. Highly rated, renewed shows’ fans are more likely to engage with brands.

Speaking of opportunities, the highest rated of this year’s renewed shows are slightly more likely to be engaged with brands, otherwise known as potential advertisers. While a show’s rating is not strongly correlated to brand engagement, the shows that were ultimately renewed this year have the top 3 shows most engaged with brands on social: ABC’s Secrets and Lies, followed by CBS’ The Odd Couple and CSI: Cyber.

Of course, “advertiser friendliness” should be evaluated case-by-case via affinities and other methods. But, still, this symbiosis between highly rated content on-air and social engagement can benefit brands. Understanding why Apple & Eve juices fans are so engaged with Secrets and Lies could reveal interesting insights.

Affinity Answers’ segments now include TV ad occurrence data. This allows us to consider brand ad exposure along with social engagement so our clients can reach engaged audiences and increase frequency by reaching them on-air and online. How will using affinity-based segments to strengthen your overall campaign? Contact us at audiences@affinityanswers.com.