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12 November 2011

The X Factor: Social media and the live shows infographic – Week 5

 By Rachel Hawkes

It was 'Dance Classics' week, and if you were lead to believe that is was going to be a two-step extravaganza as portrayed by The Xtra Factor, you were wrong. With even more twists and turns with series 8 of The X Factor that made Twitter weep, the social buzz has never been so entertaining.

In an attempt to keep the Saturday prime time vision show fresh, interesting and stave off what is reported by marketing media to be poor audience figures, a double eviction format was introduced.

And, the bottom three left on stage to await their fate? Tulisa Contostavlos managing The Bands saw her popular boy band The Risk eliminated not even given the opportunity to sing for survival. In the bottom two again was Louis Walsh's Kitty Brucknell and first timer Johnny Robinson also from The Overs. The panel unanimously voted for Brucknell in which they saw longevity in her as an artist that could entertain, fill venues and be a more credible pop star to sell albums.

In the week that was to be, Frankie Cocozza from Gary Barlow's The Boys, who was booed during Week 5 live shows, left The X Factor (or was asked to leave from the show) for alleged drug use. It also saw the 19-year-old edited from the M&S television commercial, which didn’t dent his social media profile in the slightest as he tuned to apologise and state his declaration to not let The X Factor define him.

With one less contestant and another other week to fill, the programme makers are giving viewers the opportunity to vote for one act originally voted off by the Judges in Week 1; 2 Shoes, Amelia Lilly, James Michael and Jonjo Kerr to return to the show. Given the surprise return, one has to wonder how the social media presence of the contestants will have upon their live show performances, and will there be any regrets in not keeping the social profiles active through the pain of exiting they may have experienced the first time around. My bet will be on Amelia Lily, who’s social media channels have continued to grow steadily, in no small part due to the many performances she has put in since leaving the show I’m sure. Despite leaving at the first hurdle, Amelia Lily has more fans and followers across Facebook and Twitter than contestants that have been in the
competition a lot longer than her.

We’ve brought a new element to the infographic (towards the bottom) in projecting the overall fans and followers that connect with contestants throughout the series.

As we review The X Factor's social media, we strive to determine what impact is social TV having on the way television shows evolve and how they are viewed, interacted and engaged with. Indeed, how prime time television shows and the programme makers behind them are doing to understand the role of social media is having upon audiences and how they should adapt to meet challenges.

You can see below on the graphic, if they carry on at the same rate over the next five weeks (which will naturally slow down for contestants that go on to leave the show, and may increase for those that stay on further), how that may look in terms of the size of their social audience by the end of the live shows.

Whichever of the four acts manages to be reinstated into the show, it must be a bitter pill to swallow for both The Risk and Johnny.

The X Factor: Social media and the live shows infographic – Week 5

Categories: X Factor, Social media, Research, News, Infographics, Elemental

Tags: Social TV, Facebook, infographic, iTV, social media, social media insight, social media marketing, social media trends, social buzz, the X Factor, Twitter, X-Factor, youtube, M&S