Whether or not you are a fan of American Idol, this iconic / painful reality show represents success of the highest calibre in an extremely competitive marketplace. Let’s examine the categories of its success.
• Audience Engagement. Through phone voting, American Idol engages the local audience of each of its international shows. The audience is empowered to influence the show’s contest and as a result holds a personal attachment to the process and outcome. There is no more powerful way to maintain and grow a target market than to gain their involvement in your business.
• Advertising. American Idol is a case study of how to successfully maximize advertising potential and Share of Voice (SOV) in a commodity marketplace. In every single target market and country where the show is hosted around the world, Idol creates a small market media frenzy by hosting and publicizing try-outs for their upcoming show. Local media focuses on local talent and constantly engages new audiences in new-to-American-Idol communities. The media follows the successful applicants throughout the process until they reach the show. The show obviously creates massive PR but it doesn’t end there; a PR strategy is created to support the winners and runners-up to ensure that their success and near-success becomes stories unto themselves. Finally, by continuing to follow up and report on past winners, American Idol helps itself to build Idol’s reputation for each new show. The lesson here is that PR does not start and stop with the product or service being offered.
• Growth. What started out as ‘American’ Idol became a global powerhouse in the most lucrative television markets around the world. Recognizing that audiences outside of the USA would not be engaged in a contest of American talent, American Idol became ‘Idol’ and branched out into Canada, Australia, Asia, Israel, United Kingdom and Latin America. Local broadcasts are tailored to cater to local tastes (popular celebrity judges etc...) and each show builds upon the success of the original American Idol. The real benefit to the business of American Idol is that they have grown their revenue potential from advertising in the USA to being a global channel for national and multi-national enterprises. American Idol now derives revenue from not one market but all major markets in their industry worldwide.
Whether or not you are a fan of American Idol, step back and take a moment to analyze the simplicity of its business model and the key factors contributing to its success. If you are a business owner or leader, there is a lot you can learn from watching those who watch.
