An Act of Loyalty by Derek Westee

One television show, “American Idol,” was able to sway one-third of Americans citizens who had never sent a text message to suddenly start voting with their phones, resulting in millions of dollars of revenues. How can one show become popular enough to completely alter citizen’s minds into suddenly text messaging simply to vote for their favorite singer of the week? Advances in affective economics create opportunities to learn more about the behavior of consumers when watching certain television shows. The idea of affective economics is to look more at what the consumer wants in a show rather than only checking numbers and revenue. Commercials will make much more money for a television show that is able to produce a slew of citizens who will drop everything every week to watch the new episode. Through the use of affective economics, television media is suddenly changing the manner in which it functions by fulfilling the needs and demands of consumers, which in turn will result in the sale of more products and the realization of greater revenues.
In the past, media conglomerates believed that they would maximize revenues by airing the greatest possible number of commercials during a show. With the new theory of affective economics, it is believed that the greatest number of viewers can be hooked by creating loyalists. “Loyalists are more apt to watch series faithfully, more apt to pay attention during advertising, and more apt to buy products” (Jenkins 63). Markets are now paying attention to the needs of the

consumer in order to increase the base of citizens who will watch the commercials and thus purchase the advertised goods. If an enormous amount of citizens watch the same television show weekly, it will increase the chances that they will stay on the channel even during commercials, not wanting to miss a moment of the show. After watching every commercial, there is a much greater probability that this group of people will purchase the products shown. As a consequence, the new culture is adapting to the needs of both consumers and producers. The market becomes completely balanced when the loyalists enjoy entertaining shows and the producers receive larger amounts of money.
The number of commercials on a television show completely depends on its popularity. As a show gains interest among society, advertisers are willing to spend more money to show their commercial in the time frames during which that new television show is aired. In turn, the loyalists who continually watch the entire time slot will view the new products that will later be purchased. Thus, loyalists have gained an immense amount of power due to affective economics, as they have caused the airing of certain commercials due to their loyalty to a particular show. In order to gain more viewers, marketers must also attempt to relate to viewers who are termed “zappers” and “casuals.” “Zappers” are considered people who constantly change channels and can never decide what to watch. Marketers have trouble actually getting zappers to watch a commercial as a result of the continual change of channel. On the other hand, advertisers have a chance to get to the casuals, who are the consumers that are generally somewhere in the middle, watching the occasional show and also flipping through channels. If a television channel can successfully sway the opinions of casuals, then the most profit will be generated by the show. This is important because the casuals have the largest probability of changing the channel during commercials, which would overall lose money for the advertisers.

Product placement has become another drastic change brought about by the concept of affective economics. Television shows are now being paid to place name-brand products in certain locations of the set in order to stand out to the viewers who will ultimately become the consumers. The idea is that if a consumer sees that his favorite television star is eating a certain brand of cereal, then he or she will want to go out and purchase the exact same brand of cereal. The television show “The Apprentice” heightened the power of product placement, which resulted in a drastic increase in revenue. Other famous shows such as “Seinfeld” also use methods of product placement to reach out to consumers. This idea reaches out to the consumer, making them feel as though they are special since they utilize the same types of products as the stars on television.
Brand extension is also affecting the general market of consumerism by using multiple contacts to reach out to citizens. This is the idea that, “successful brands are built by exploiting multiple contacts between the brand and the consumer” (Jenkins 69). The television commercials that generally show the product to the consumers are now shown at sports events, movies, and even schools. A new version of the skateboard that can be seen on television commercials was brought to high schools and allowed to be tested by the students in order to increase their desire to purchase it. After each session, the company would raffle off one skateboard, hoping that the winner would persuade his friends to purchase one. Media companies have now realized the importance of gaining the emotional side of consumers, rather than attempting to force the product on them. Television shows such as “American Idol” have become huge as a result of choosing average Americans to participate for a chance to become famous. This approach reaches out to the hearts of millions of Americans and allows for many children to realize that their dreams can become reality.

“American Idol” became one of the largest shows in television history by perfecting each individual aspect of affective economics. The show learned how to reach out to every individual type of viewer in order to maximize popularity. The show became such a large hit that it could command millions of dollars for commercial time. Casuals were able to be hooked as a result of continual discussions about each contestant’s life and the songs they had previously sung during each weekly episode. This enabled casuals to enjoy the show as a result of always being able to follow the story even after missing an episode. Before each commercial and at the end of every episode, cliffhangers would be left to keep the viewer wanting more and to increase the probability that they would stay at that channel to watch the commercials.
The group of citizens considered loyalists take their traits even farther than just watching the same television show religiously. These groups have been termed “brand communities”, due to their intensified probability of purchasing certain products. Loyalists have discussions amongst themselves and others about certain brands of products that must be purchased. The brand is then given such positive comments that the rest of consumers begin purchasing only that brand. This relates to the fact that loyalists are able to sway the opinions of other citizens into watching television shows to increase their popularity. Without the help of fanatic consumers, some products and television shows would never reach full potential. Almost every person in the United States has watched “American Idol” at least once as a result of friends discussing the show’s merits. A very important aspect of affective economics is that consumers must discuss amongst themselves the need for certain products.
Affective economics is a catalyst for success in the world market of the future. New analysts have realized the true importance of reaching out to the interests of viewers. Viewers garner immense power, allowing a show to become a hit or a complete

failure. Without loyalists, shows and certain products would never have been discovered by enough people to receive the necessary funding. Even with ideas such as product placement, brand communities, and brand extensions, the market is having trouble complying with the needs and demands of modern citizens. As Jenkins said, “for the moment, the marketing industry still has a long way to go if it wants to understand the complexity of audience’s emotions” (Jenkins 92).