It's been over a 100 days since the writers in Hollywood went on strike against the AMPTP and over a month since movie and film actors joined them on the picket line.

That makes it a great time to check in and see how this historical double strike is impacting the social media presence of TV and Film brands.

Insight #1. TV show social engagement is down, but not in freefall

Since the writer's strike began, there's on average 25% less engagement on posts from episodic TV shows, during May 02 - August 13, in 2023 compared to 2022. In that same time period, those shows have posted 12% less often on social media.

Insight #2. Reality shows benefit from the lack of competition

It's traditionally assumed that reality shows become more popular during writer's strikes, and that's definitely been true around top reality shows on social media during this strike.

For example, comparing May 2 - August 13 in 2023 compared to 2022, engagements around social content posted by America's Funniest Home Videos increased by 484%, increased by 206% for America's Got Talent, and went up by 143% for Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out.

Insight #3. Social Engagement for late night talk shows were hit disproportionately hard

Since late night talk shows broadcast the same day they tape, there was zero backlog of finished episodes to air. Looking at 7 top late night talk shows, social engagements on their posts decreased by 44%, comparing May 2 - August 13, year over year.

Social engagements on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon content only decreased by 34%, the smallest percentage for a late night talk show during the strike. Unlike most of the show's competitors, which focus on topical political content, The Tonight Show clips tend to be more evergreen, and relevant to repost.

For example, a clip of Vin Diesel saying I Am Groot in Multiple Languages got 30 million views on YouTube back in 2014. Another Guardians of the Galaxy movie was released 3 days after the writers strike started, and the same clip got another 38 million video views on TikTok.

For long running talk shows, finding ways to recontextualize old content is a strategy worth pursuing on social media, even after the strike is resolved.

Insight #4. Why it will take longer to measure the social media impact of the strike on film

Barbie, which will probably end up being the top grossing movie of the year, was released a week after actors joined the strike. However, the Barbie social media post getting the most engagement since the actors strike began was an Instagram gallery getting 2.3 million engagements that showed Margot Robbie's various red carpet looks.

While actors are clearly forbidden to promote their movies during the strike, Robbie finished an extensive press tour ahead of the movie opening. Social media was a huge part of Barbie's successful campaign strategy, and because of the long lead time on promotional efforts around films, we still haven't seen an example of what a major movie looks like without actors promoting it.

Insight #5. Finished projects will increasingly push on their release date

In most cases, we’re never going to see these finished projects released if the actors can’t promote them and the social media data for the movie Challengers spells out why.

The release date of Challengers, which is unofficially known as the Zendaya threesome movie, was moved by MGM, from September to April 2024 as a result of the actor's strike.

Between May 2 - Aug. 13, 2023, there were 190,651 total engagements on content posted on the Challengers social media accounts. In comparison, when Zendaya posted the movie's trailer, it got over 6,276,202 engagements on her Instagram account alone.

Zendaya has 229 million followers on social media and MGM knows they can’t successfully promote the film to Zendaya’s massive fanbase with the star refusing to post about it.

Conclusion

Delaying Challengers is far from an isolated decision. On the TV side, filmed TV shows like “Rap Sh!t” and “A Murder at the End of the World” have already had their release dates pushed, as have Kraven the Hunter, Dune 2, and the ‘Ghostbusters’ Sequel on the film side. In all of these instances, the talent being unable to promote the project was a huge factor in the delay.

Entertainment studios have too much money invested in these projects to give anything less than their best marketing push, and in 2023 that has to include the talent plugging the project on social media.

All the social media data in this post was pulled using the ListenFirst platform. Engagements means the amount of times there have been Likes, Emojis, Shares, ReTweets or Comments on content TV and Film brands post on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

5 Ways The Strike Has Impacted TV and Films Brands On Social Media