Following Sunday’s (5/17) Season 1 finale of E!’s first original scripted series, ‘The Royals,’ the network will present a digital post show on Eonline.com and the Eonline app. ‘The Royals Wrap Up’ post show, hosted by E! News’ Alicia Quarles, will feature guests Elizabeth Hurley, William Moseley, Alexandra Park and series creator Mark Schwahn. Guests will be answering fan questions submitted via social media with hashtag #TheRoyals, and will tease what to expect next season.
On linear, ‘The Royals’ is Sunday night’s biggest scripted show among women 18-34, and its ratings have increased throughout the season. On social, the show boasts nearly 200,000 likes and followers across Facebook and Twitter, and has pulled off a number of successful viral stunts.
“It’s always hard to really know why certain shows catch lightning in a bottle,” series creator Mark Schwahn told LostRemote when asked about ‘The Royals’ social resonance. “But my instincts tell me that one of the main reasons The Royals has been so embraced by social media has to do with my last show, One Tree Hill. The audience for that show was incredibly supportive and dedicated, and many of them have embraced ‘The Royals,’ as well. And while ‘The Royals’ is a very different arena, the emotional terrain is similar, the love triangles, the music, and the creator’s voice. People line up to buy the next novel from an author they appreciate. Now you’re seeing a social media audience supporting the next television show from a writer they appreciate.”
If there’s anything that E!’s target demo likes more than engaging with its favorite shows on social, it’s a good post-show.
“Fans now not only want but expect to get insider scoop about their favorite shows – and the more dramatic the show, the more scoop they demand,” Jen Neal, EVP, Marketing for E! told us. “The Loyals, as The Royals’ most loyal fans have dubbed themselves, have shown their passion for through #AskMark Twitter events, Periscoping segments with Mark, and live tweeting with the cast every single week. This finale after show is the ultimate payoff for these passionate fans to see their favorite cast members reunited and to get a full show’s worth of insider info directly from Mark and the cast.”
A ‘Royals’ post-show would have almost certainly performed well on linear, but limiting it to the web and its app is part of a concerted effort by E! to increase its digital footprint – a strategy that has recently paid off. In the first quarter of2015, E! digital delivered its best quarter ever, with over 39 million multiplatform uniques (comScore) – a 49% year-over-year increase.