The controversy over the TV show "The Book of Daniel", which NBC has now pulled off the air, left me wondering what might be on their web site. Very interesting! Whatever you think about the controversy, you need to have a look at how NBC is interacting with their audience online.
Here's what I found:
- They are going to air the last episode on the Internet, so loyal fans can get one last fix
- This show, and several others (e.g. West Wing), have blogs that are supposed to be written by the characters in the show. The West Wing site actually has a policy platform for candidate Santos.
- Book of Daniel has a very active discussion forum. Some topics have hundreds of follow-up posts, and thousands of viewers. That really impressed me, until I saw the message board for Biggest Loser, in which some topics have > 100,000 page views.
What a great way to find out what is on the minds of your target audience!
ABC has message boards for a number of their shows as well -- several daytime soaps, as well as Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Commander in Chief, Dancing with Stars and Boston Legal. You can listen to the soundtrack for Grey's Anatomy, find out why songs were selected, buy the CD, buy scrub pants, e-mail gift suggestions to a friend, and vote in polls about show developments.
Further investigation took me to the Writer's Blog for Grey's Anatomy, which is attracting a lot more comments than this blog does. This is worth a quick look, and make sure you check out the comments.
A lot of businesses -- and whole industries -- pay lip service about connecting with customers. These guys are doing it.
Who else is doing a good job on this? Ideas anyone?