American Idol premiered last night, and the numbers were outstanding on social. According to Bluefin Labs, there were a record 518k comments compared to Jersey Shore’s launch, which had only 410k comments. The premiere also beat the most social episode of the X-Factor, which they said had 391k comments (see infographic below). The question now remains if The Voice’s season two — which premieres Superbowl night — will score big ratings and social TV comments. Buzz around the game might take away from the premiere, but a guaranteed enormous audience might still make the 518k number look tiny.
What’s yet to exist on TV is a competition where the voting is solely on social. The X-Factor innovated with Twitter by allowing anyone to DM them, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When voting in these competitions must happen on social, the virality factor will make today’s social TV buzz look like child’s play.
