SnapStream Blog

A New Era of Storytelling with John Battelle

August 18 2021 by Celina Dawdy

Good journalism is a superpower. 

With current events constantly evolving, journalism has taken a different road over the last several years. However, there's one crucial aspect that has stayed the same: storytelling. Journalism will inform, evoke emotion, and provide entertainment all in one effort. Because of its complex nature, it's a difficult art to master. We recently sat down with John Battelle, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Recount Media, to discuss how journalism has evolved and where it's headed.

John has been in the industry for decades. With that, he has learned to transform and evolve with changing platforms, mediums, and audiences. Due to his flexibility in his craft, The Recount has reached over 800 million views and over 2 billion social impressions. He manages this while still maintaining journalism ethics and credibility. This feat, though not impossible, is impressive with many challenges. 

For content creators, newsroom producers, and social media influencers, John provides a valuable insight into the world of media through video content. 

The Old Method 

Broadcasting and journalism have taken a drastic turn throughout the past few decades. Providing an audience with the news was originally a rigid task, which John referred to as "Suits on Set." 

Traditionally, people received their news by watching a news broadcast of their favorite reporters sitting on a mandated set and reading off a teleprompter. Though effective, it lacked creativity and visual interest. The audience rarely received a direct image or video that represented current events. The broadcast team also put their own political spin on the content, as John mentions:

"They tend to be coming from a partisan point of view. You're either Team Blue or Team Red. And the other sight, sound, and motion that's well established in journalism is documentary, [which is] long form."

"It struck [my partner] John Heilemann and me when we were starting the company that we were very much in a post-linear moment. Television was going through a significant shift and a major disruption - probably analogous to the shift from broadcast to cable. [This included] new forms of distribution, new formats, and new uses of video."

What had initially shown a significant impact on the audience was beginning to fizzle out. Where families would previously sit down nightly for the evening news, attention spans started to dwindle. With that, new forms of journalism and broadcasting were required to keep attention. John was one of the first to hop on the new wave. 

Generational Changes

With the digital age hitting our generation like a freight train, it's no wonder that television and journalism have had to adjust. Several different factors led to this change. 

Social Media 

With 3.78 billion social media users, there's an influx of sharing information and misinformation. Now (more than ever), less reputable sources can spread the news into the hands of billions of people. This has made a massive impact on the way that people digest and distribute information. 

Handheld Devices  

With the majority of Americans owning a mobile phone or tablet, information and news are now at our fingertips. This minimizes the need for people to catch the evening news or pick up the newspaper religiously. What was originally a popular format for news consumption has had a significant drop in views and readership. For passionate journalists, this has required a desperate change. 

Need for Digestible Information

Because information is available at our fingertips, we consume more news than ever before. This has resulted in the attention span for readers and viewers dropping drastically. According to Wistia, attention for online videos begins to drop after only 30 seconds, with a significant decline occurring after 60 seconds. 

Due to this, long-form journalists have had to adjust to short-form videos. 

Hip-Hop News

John and The Recount have been pioneers in leading the way to the new era of television. After identifying the new forms of distribution and format, the team at The Recount began to brainstorm new ways of news consumption. 

"Our mission and our ambition are to essentially reinvent television. In order to do that, we had to start with a clean slate and say, 'Well, what would we make if we didn't have to follow the sort of form and rules of traditional television journalism?' And that's when we came up with what John Heilemann calls Hip-Hop News." 

The idea behind Hip-Hop News is inspired by the ever-loved music genre, Hip Hop. 

"The idea is [based] on the form of Hip Hop by sampling. And reimagining the melodies from a base of music across decades and across genres and styles. It was a remix of the culture." 

The team applied this logic to television.

"The first products that we came out with when we launched about a year and a half ago, were remixes of all the videos that you find. Not only on traditional broadcast and linear cable, but also social media, audio, and even text, graphics, and graphical treatments."

This application led to a brilliant business plan, marketing idea, and hints towards the future of television news. 

The Recount began creating short, digestible videos that could easily be shared across all platforms. Some videos were as short as four seconds but provided enough insight and news to generate buzz and share valuable information to the masses. 

One of their most successful short videos got 100,000 views in only 30 minutes. This was a brief, four-second video that made a huge impact. The video was a comparison of Joe Biden versus Donald Trump when meeting the G7 leaders. The first clip showcased President Trump at the beginning of his presidency. As he met the G7 leaders, Trump pushed his way to the front so he could be seen by everybody. The video then introduces a clip of President Biden walking in a group with his arm around President McCrone. 

"It was a bit that they were so strikingly different. These two images ran side by side for only four seconds, but it's incredibly powerful." 

This is the concept of Hip Hop News. However, to master the art, journalists must be qualified and understand the context of the narrative they are trying to tell. It requires a lot of research, dedication, and time. 

Future of Journalism 

John also weighed in on the future of journalism. With more and more outlets transitioning to a digital model, there's a shift in news and broadcasting. As this shift has come to fruition, there has been a need for monetization and content management systems to support a new model. 

Though there is still a large change that needs to occur to optimize new journalism, the future is near. John provides insight:

 "As we move into streaming…[there's] a big opportunity to rethink the technical layer between production and publishing. It's super exciting. I think it's just as exciting as HTML in the late 90s. Before the emergence of Javascript and the other tools that led to the explosion on the web, everyone called Web Two. We're very close to television. I would say that in five years from now, it'll be a completely different looking field."

As John and The Recount continue to challenge modern-day journalism and provide unique insights into an ever-changing world, there's an opportunity to shift and improve while continually appealing to a broader audience. 

Conclusion 

For journalism lovers and broadcasters, there's value in understanding the changing news consumption habits of society. Applying recent trends, statistics, and knowledge can ensure that you stay on top of your game. Though this provides a significant struggle, it's both exciting and interesting to find new ways to produce information for easy consumption. 

Want to try the original news media video workspace for yourself? Try us free for 7 days to search and clip the biggest news moments as they happen.

Who Really Watches the News?

April 29 2021 by Sarah Eck

 

shutterstock_1227254539

Audience measurement and attribution is tougher than ever, with neither surveys nor browser data telling the full story. Fortunately, the Pew Research Center embarked upon a year-long study to better understand news consumption habits, technology usage, and how research methodologies are trying to keep up.

With the rise of digital media and the diversification of channels used by traditional news sources, not only do researchers have a tougher time measuring readership/viewership, but even audiences themselves are confused. While the Measuring News Consumption in a Digital Era study in its entirety covers ways to improve news attribution surveys and data-gathering, this blog will focus on the findings related to who is watching the news, how they're watching it, and their overall understanding of the news media landscape.

 

News Consumption is Relatively High,About a quarter of Americans could not correctly identify any original reporting sources Media Literacy is Low

While most Americans claim to consume news on a regular or semi-regular basis, confusion exists around how news organizations actually work. 

According to the study, a little over half of respondents are at least fairly confident they can distinguish between news organizations that do their own reporting versus those that do not. 

When asked about specific outlets, including news aggregators like Google News and Apple News, more than two-thirds of respondents either thought these outlets did original reporting or weren't sure. 

 

 

Paying for News is Uncommon and Not Well Understood

Most Americans say they have not paid for news in past year… but when asked more specifically, some who initially said no indicate their household had subscribed or donated

What connotes 'paying for news' has changed drastically over the past decade. Historically, directly paying for news meant subscribing to a publication or purchasing one at the newsstand. With the rise of cable and the internet, more indirect forms emerged. 

Today, Americans get news from a vast set of sources but tend to think of buying access to news in specific terms. When broadly asked if they'd paid for news in the past year, 83% of respondents said they had not. 

However, when researchers asked respondents more specific questions as to whether they had subscribed to print or online news, or donated to a public broadcaster, the data shifted. Of the initial respondents who said they hadn't paid for news in the past year, 19% claimed to subscribe to print or online news when asked in those specific terms.

Overall, the vast majority of Americans are not directly paying to access news sources via subscription or donation, which puts greater pressure on news outlets to secure ad revenue, indirect revenue via licensing, and reimagine their financial models.

Streaming Services and Digital Devices Not Seen as News Sources

Audiences are broadly familiar with streaming devices and services, but a relatively small portion turn to these sources for news content. Less than 20% of study respondents said they get news at least sometimes from streaming devices or services, including Roku, Firestick, Netflix, and Hulu. These same respondents also responded as getting news from TV and digital devices. At the same time 85% of total survey respondents said they get news from mobile devices or PCs. 

Something doesn't quite add up, right?

The real answers emerged in the cognitive interviews with survey respondents. It turns out,  rather than seeing streaming devices or services as news sources, audiences think of them as tools that enable them to access a variety of content - entertainment, information, and possibly news - whenever they want. Put more simply, many respondents think of streaming services as either TV or internet content.


“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” Joins SnapStream’s Family of Talk Shows

May 16 2014 by Jennifer Miller

First and foremost, let me start by saying, “Welcome to the family “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver, and the entire team of producers, editors, and show writers!”

In case you haven’t heard, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” selected SnapStream’s TV recording and search technology to help build the TV clips and content that will be used on the show. (Here is the press releaselast-week-tonight-with-john-oliver)

Need an example? Next time you tune in (the show airs every Sunday on HBO) watch for the pop-up TV clips that John Oliver references throughout the show. Those clips are pulled using SnapStream!

How They Use SnapStream

With SnapStream’s technology, the team at “Last Week Tonight” is able to quickly search and aggregate mass amounts of current, often obscure, TV content from worldwide sources. This technology, along with John Oliver’s undeniable genius for political satire, is the perfect equation for comedic gold.

Just ask Ari Fishman, a producer at “Last Week Tonight” who said,

“SnapStream has proven itself to be the premiere product for high-volume television recording and search capabilities.

We are hoping to achieve an extensive SnapStream footage archive that we can effectively use as our primary research tool. SnapStream keyword searches makes it a very organized user experience, and we anticipate growing our SnapStream library. All of our producers [are] confident in SnapStream’s capabilities.”

A Favorite Among Many Shows and Networks

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” is not alone in their hunt for an efficient way to find and repurpose specific TV content. They join a host of successful shows and networks including “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report,” “E! News” and “The Arsenio Hall Show,” to name a few. All of these shows, and many more, use SnapStream’s clipping, content repurposing, and archival for their shows.

In fact, SnapStream is known throughout the broadcast and network industries for its ability to quickly research interesting commentary, news trends, and comparative talking points.

Here is what some of our current clients have said recently:

“It would be impossible to generate the amount of content our show requires without a [technology] like SnapStream. The immediacy with which we can research and distribute video has been invaluable to our creative process." - The Colbert Report

“Night in and night out, SnapStream helps us create the freshest monologues in late night.” - The Arsenio Hall Show

“SnapStream is a single solution for creating and packaging aired content for distribution to advertisers.” - MLB Network

So next time you tune into “Last Week Tonight”, or any of the other shows mentioned, wow your friends and family by letting them in on the secret behind those TV clip pop-ups - SnapStream’s TV search technology.

 

 

News Parody Lights Up TV in Europe, the Middle East and Asia

August 14 2012 by Rachel Abbott

Before I began researching the news comedy programs outside the U.S., I had no idea what the world had in store. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has inspired so many TV shows and spin-offs worldwide, that the initial query of "who are they?" evolved into a four-part series. (See posts 1, 2 and 3.) Right on key, the Foreign Policy in Focus recently wrote about the Global Stewarts, too.

We have learned that comedy and politics are tightly integrated, not just at home, but abroad. It's been good to pop out of our own "cable TV bubble" and to see how the international crowd entertains, from living rooms in South America to Israel. In today's final batch of shows, you'll see that every nation's comedic style reflects the social and political culture of the population. Comedy is how people make sense of, poke holes in, and cope with the critical, and oftentimes trivial, events gripping their daily lives.


Heute-Show

About: The Heute-Show is a straight-up German adaptation of The Daily Show hosted by Oliver Welke. Meaning "today show," Heute-Show is a nightly half-hour news comedy program that mock reports on current issues in the political landscape of Germany, as well as international news. If you're fluent in German, you can enjoy watching a full episode featured above. Viel Spaß!

Where: Cologne, Germany; Channel ZDF

First Aired: 2009

Fun Fact: Anchorman Oliver Welke also co-wrote a book called heute-show with a writer from the TV series, Morten Bold.

Al-Bernameg

About: Born out of the Egyptian revolution and Syrian uprising of 2011, grassroots Al-Bernameg has become a political tour de force and nationwide television sensation. Literally "The Program," Al-Bernameg began as a viral phenom on YouTube, gaining millions of viewers under the title The B+ Show. Host Bassem Youssef says he was inspired by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Ten episodes later, ONTV offered to take Youssef into broadcast production three times a week, making national history as the first show of its kind. Youssef also became the first media personality to successfully transition from a YouTube Show to broadcast television.

Where: Cairo, Egypt; ONTV

First Aired: 2011

Fun Fact: Before emerging as a TV star, Dr. Bassem Youssef was known as the cardiothoracic surgeon who helped wounded Tahrir Square protesters after the Battle of the Camel. Clearly, he's certified to dissect "the heart of politics" using his own razor-sharp wit.

Parazit

About: Parazit is a Persian-language satirical TV show hosted by two Iranian ex-pats, Kambiz Hosseini and Saman Arbabi. The weekly half-hour show, which originally aired as a 10-minute segment, has now developed a mass following with Iranian audiences. Directly influenced by The Daily Show, Parazit pokes fun at the absurdities of life in the Islamic republic, giving audiences an outlet from their oppressive government. Parazit translates to "static," which references the Iranian government's attempts to jam foreign satellite programming.

Enjoy a full episode with English subtitles, courtesy of Parazit's YouTube channel.

Where: Parazit airs on Voice of America, which airs overseas to Iran via satellite, the Internet and bootleg DVDs. Since the show is broadcast from the United States, it is able to bypass the government's strict censorship.

First Aired: 2008

Fun Fact: The hosting duo, Hosseini and Arabi, made a guest appearance on The Daily Show in January 2011.

Eretz Nehederet

About: Eretz Nehederet (ארץ נהדרת), which means "A Wonderful Country" in Hebrew, is Israel's smash hit spoof news show. Every Friday night, Israeli audiences tune in to enjoy the show's political satire as a welcome source of comic relief. Eretz Nehederet reflects the nation's current affairs, institutions and leaders, with an irreverent style similar to The Daily Show. Host Eyal Kitzis, often compared to Jon Stewart and Ali G, works alongside the country's brightest comedians to make one of the most watched and influential shows on Israeli TV.

Click above to watch the skit, Angry Birds Peace Treaty, which conveniently uses English plus subtitles to translate all of the squawking.

Where: Tel Aviv, Israel; Channel 2

First Aired: 2003

Fun Fact: Eretz Nehederet airs on Friday night (the Sabbath), which means no TV for observant Jews. But, because of the show's permeative effect on Israel's popular culture, a religious lawmaker successfully got the station to air repeats of the show during the week.

If I Were Prime Minister

About: If I Were Prime Minister of Japan (太田光の私が総理大臣になったら…秘書田中) is a prime-time news satire show starring Hikari Ōta, a standup comedian who gives his take on running the country, in a country where direct political satire is considered taboo. Acting as Prime Minister, Ōta begins every show with a radical manifesto that will somehow bring bring peace to Japan and/or the rest of the world. The guests of the day then heatedly debate both sides, lampooning Japan's typical political debate shows. The New York Times wrote about how Ōta is pushing the boundaries of political satire in Japan, saying that he is the closest thing the country has to Jon Stewart.

It seems that content is blocked from the U.S., so I couldn't find a clip to share with you.

Where: Tokyo, Japan; Nippon TV

First Aired: 2006

Fun Fact: Despite the extreme nature of the show, Ōta steers clear of certain topics, such as the imperial family and North Korea, because of the complexities and a general lack of public understanding.

See related posts:

The Daily Show equivalents in South America and Italy

July 31 2012 by Rachel Abbott

Following up on yesterday's post: We're exploring international TV shows equivalent to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, in terms of their cultural significance and satirical style. To kick off our trip around the world, let's take a look at the funniest fake news TV shows of South America and Italy, where everyone loves Tarantino movies and double entendres. As awesome as descriptions are, it's even more telling to watch the clips!

Caiga Quien Caiga

About: Caiga Quien Caiga, translated to "Whoever May Fall," is the big front-runner on the world stage, having won an International Emmy for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment in 2010. Also known as CQC, this Argentine TV show is a weekly news mashup that injects current affairs, show business and sports with humor and irony. When you watch the clip featured above, you'll get the futuristic, rock-concert vibe right away. CQC has also been adapted in Spain, France, Chile, Italy, Brazil, Portugal, and briefly in Israel and the Netherlands. The hosts vary from country to country, but in Argentina, they are Juan di Natale and Guillermo López.

Where: Argentina et al; Canal 13.

First Aired: 1995

Fun Fact: All presenters on the show wear trademark black suits and sunglasses, inspired by Quentin Tarantino's movie Reservoir Dogs.


Custe o Que Custar

About: Custe O Que Custar, translated to "Whatever It Takes," rounds up weekly events in politics, the arts and sports with a satirical slant. The show, also known as CQC, is directly modeled after its successful counterpart, Caiga Quien Caiga. In the episode featured above, in the Política segment (15:45), the "reporter" appears to be hounding various public officials with ridiculous, off-the-wall questions. Even without speaking Portuguese, you can get the flavor and context! They're known for adding humor with superimposed thought bubbles, graphics and sound effects. The hosts are Rafael Cortez, Felipe Andreoli, Oscar Filho, Monica Iozzi, Mauricio Meirelles and João Pedro Carvalho.

Where: São Paulo, Brazil; Band Network

First Aired: 2008

Fun Fact: Really, who knew Reservoir Dogs was so influential in South America?

Le Iene

About: Le Iene, translated to "The Hyenas," is another adaptation of CQC. The show features comedic sketches and reports covering political affairs and consumer issues. One of the show's most popular recurring sketches, besides the mock news reporting, is the "double interview," in which two people are asked the same questions. Their answers are then edited together on a split screen, so that they answer one after the other. You can watch an example of the intervista doppia in the clip above. The current hosts are Ilary Blasi, Enrico Brignano and Claudio Amendola.

Where: Italy; Italia 1

First Aired: 1997

Fun Fact: Le Iene was also the release name in Italy for the film Reservoir Dogs. And you guessed it: all the presenters on the show don the signature black suits, white shirts and black ties prescribed by the movie.

Striscia la notizia

About: Striscia la notizia literally translates to "the news slithers" in Italian, but more accurately means "strip the news." Stricia airs right before the regular news, which gives it the perfect stronghold to sneer at government corruption and rip scams to shreds. The show is hosted by Ezio Greggio, Enzo Iacchetti, Michelle Hunziker, and the comedy duo of Ficarra and Picone. One of the show's segments can be translated to "the new monsters," and it shows the best and worst of TV, using clips and witty commentary, kind of like The Soup on E!. Watch the clip above for an example.

Where: Italy; Canale 5

First Aired: 1988

Fun Fact: The term striscia has a variety of double meanings which relate to the show's editorial voice: cocaine, which conveys excitement; comic strips, which are funny; and snakes, which are sly.

Come back to SnapStream's blog to learn about the comedy news TV shows of Canada and the United Kingdom.

See related posts:

Are you monitoring the East Coast earthquake on TV?

August 24 2011 by Rachel Abbott

First of all, who knew the East Coast of the U.S. was prone to seismic activity? The last earthquake on record for the region was 1897!

When breaking news unfolds in a flash, SnapStream comes in extremely handy to rack up mentions about a particular topic. Boom, boom, boom. Today's rattling event is a prime example of our powerful TV search technology at work. In a matter of seconds, I pulled up 100+ hits and climbing for the keyword "earthquake," based on the local and national news channels recording at our office in Houston. (What you can record, is what you can search.)

How is your organization monitoring the East Coast quake? See examples of my TV search findings (click images to enlarge).

TV search results for east coast earthquake

East coast earthquake on TV news

East coast earthquake

P.S. To all of our customers and partners in the DC and NE area, we hope you're doing OK!

Farewell to TV Trends

July 20 2011 by Rachel Abbott

Today, we are saying goodbye to TV Trends. Since launching the free, online service in 2009, we have gleaned tons of valuable insight into what's frequently said on U.S. television. We harnessed SnapStream's powerful TV search technology to record lots of TV and then graph mentions, comparing up to 10 keywords at a time. TV Trends would show you the pulse of national news, listing the top, hot and cold trending phrases from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, MSNBC and CNN.

It was a fun side project for us here at SnapStream, but all good things must come to an end. On the bright side, you can easily build your own searchable TV archive, just like TV Trends, with SnapStream's TV search appliances. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at sales@snapstream.com.

In memoriam, here's a screenshot of the home page:

And here's a capture of comparative results for "hello" vs. "goodbye" dating from fall 2008 to present:

For a timeless reference point, browse our full index of TV Trends articles:

And in parting, let us sing "So Long, Farewell" to TV Trends!
Auf wiedersehen, adieu!

TV Trend: Jersey Shore, Snooki fly off the charts!

January 07 2011 by Rachel Abbott

Blowing up the Tube

On Thursday night, Jersey Shore premiered with a blowout of 8.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched series telecast in the history of MTV. Love it or hate it, the Shore is up 62% compared to last year's debut, according to the Nielson Co.

On the up-and-up, the reality soap's TV ratings have been progressively climbing, not "creeping," since it first aired in December 2009 with 1.4 million viewers. The Season 2 opener in July 2010 had 5.2 million people hooked.

While this news is shocking, it's also not a huge surprise. When you "punch" in a search on SnapStream's TV Trends (see: Snooki's face punch), the news results and media coverage match up 100%.

Tidal Wave of Jersey Shore News

All puns aside, the American news media propagates the popularity of Jersey Shore with continuous commentary and constant exposure. Think about it, any singular topic garnering this much attention in the press is going to incite public interest and provoke curiosity. No wonder people can't get enough.

The shenanigans on Jersey Shore have become the go-to source of pop culture satire—producing a gold mine of interviews, media appearances, spin-offs and talk material that everyone wants to capitalize on.

Snooki Dominates TV Trends

Play around with the graph below. Or visit tvtrends.com to type in your own keywords and see the context of each mention within the closed captioning. (Playback is reserved for SnapStream TV Search users.)

Snooki gets the most references, the most "hits" - isn't that interesting? She single-handedly outdoes the namesake of the show. If I was her, I'd command higher pay based on the sheer amount of media exposure she's raking in. So in conclusion, Snooki is the icon and MVP of Jersey Shore.

Have a great Friday. GTL.

For fun, here's the cast of Jersey Shore on The View:

TV Trends Takes Pulse of the Nation Through #Election Week

November 04 2010 by Rachel Abbott

As media outlets were buzzing yesterday about midterm elections, we were closely tracking what was mentioned on major television networks here at SnapStream headquarters.

Since we're a television search and monitoring company, we employ our own SnapStream Servers to record U.S. national TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, MSNBC, CNN and HLN) and provide insights into what is said on U.S. television. On big news days, like an election night, we gather all the closed-captioning data and run the numbers to distinguish the overarching news trends.

From SnapStream's aggregated television data, clear-cut trends emerge about the nation’s pulse during this pivotal midterm election, which serves as a forecasting indicator of the political climate stirring for the 2012 Presidential Election.

Based on over 60,000 hours of recorded television, freely accessible to anyone at tvtrends.com, we find a heavily evident media focus on the Republican Party and a direct correlation with the outcome of Tuesday’s balloting. As Democrats’ majority in Congress slipped, so did their rate and frequency of national news coverage.

Several approximations are used when computing results, such as how many mentions occur per unique hour. To determine the “hot” and “cold” measure of certain words or topics, we use an equation to calculate a frequency score that’s normalized to the number of hours of TV recorded on any given day.

Absolute, raw mentions
10/30 – 11/3
Hot TV Trends
Nov. 2, 2010
Hot TV Trends
Nov. 3, 2010
"Election" returns 767 mentions
"Voters" returns 359 mentions
"Republicans" returns 308 mentions
"Republican" returns 212 mentions
"Race" returns 213 mentions
"Races" returns 195 mentions
"Democrat" returns 61 mentions
"Tea Party" returns 53 mentions
1. Election
2. To the polls
3. The Republicans
4. Voters
5. Races
6. Lisa Murkowski
7. Race
8. The Republican
1. The Republicans
2. Races
3. Election
4. Race
5. In the senate
6. The Republican
7. To the polls
8. Zahra

An overview of keyword frequency across news channels, in descending order:

On the word "election,"
1. CNN
2. FOX News
3. MSNBC
4. HLN
5. ABC
On the word "republican(s),"
1. MSNBC
2. FOX News
3. CNN
4. ABC
5. HLN
On the word "democrat,"
1. FOX News
2. MSNBC
3. CNN
4. HLN
5. ABC

 

SnapStream TV Trends aims to provide insights into what is said on U.S. television. Updates occur every half hour and data is shown once the show is complete. To customize your own TV Trend search, visit http://www.snapstream.com/tvtrends.

What's the most Googled word?

October 14 2010 by Rachel Abbott

So I'm a big fan of Oprah and I DVR every episode (season pass, obviously). Last night, I watched the "Are You Normal?" episode which aired yesterday. Throughout the show, Oprah did a series of polls with the audience about people's random habits to discern if the quirky things we do in private are "normal." Exploring tame questions like "How often do you pick your nose?" to much more personal and embarrassing subjects, it was human nature at its most candid and the results were funny to everyone.

Throughout the show Oprah dropped a teaser question: "What is the most Googled word?" Perhaps to indicate what people are most curious about. After all, the anonymity of the Web is the perfect cloak to hide those secretive sort of inquiries.

What is the most Googled word?

a. Money

b. Sex

c. Love

d. Weight

What's your guess?

The answer...

Google Trends

was love. I cross-referenced with Google Trends to investigate and found that sex is actually way higher in average worldwide traffic. As in, love comes nowhere near the search volume! Where is Oprah getting this information from? I would love to know.

Hmm, but this got my wheels turning. At SnapStream, we often compare Google Trends to TV Trends because it's cool to see how trends differ between online searches and TV news coverage.

The way I see it, it's like information economics: TV is the outgoing supply of information (one size fits all) and Google is the information you demand to know (what whets your appetite). Sometimes, they match identically. Other times, there's zero correlation.

TV Trends

So I took it to SnapStream's TV Trends for good measure. The results truly astonished me. In the course of 2009, money dominated the topic of media conversation. Okay, no surprise there, owing to the recession year, but wait, there's more.

Let the sun shine all over 2010: love and money interwine on the graph, dancing above and below each other in unpredictable steps. Who would have thought that love would spread like butter on the media's radar? Mush. Not exactly hard-breaking news.

Although... a recent (very recent) news story featuring love pops into mind. Did you watch the Chilean miners' miraculous rescue mission unfold?! All of the reporters were exclaiming how captivating the individual stories and relationships were: to see husbands and wives reuniting was like "watching a wedding," one CNN reporter said, but with deeper gravity in the circumstances. Emotions were running with adrenaline through this positive, uplifting story, proving that maybe sometimes, in our business-focused society, "love rules." That's how Oprah put it.

What is SnapStream? There's an unlimited amount of video content out there: 24/7 news channels, breaking news events, sports, talk shows, awards galas, entertainment shows, and so much more.

SnapStream makes a real-time news and media search engine that makes it fast and easy to find the video moments that support our customers telling great stories.

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