Adult Swim Loves to Hate
When viewing video content on popular television network websites, like NBC.com or BravoTV.com, we’re all familiar with the ability to sort by “Top Rated.” But, Adult Swim has a different approach. In addition to a “Top Rated” sort option, the quirky Cartoon Network co-habitant also offers a “Top Hated” sort.
Why would anyone be interested in watching low-rated content? Does it work for Adult Swim because of its sub-cultural, “different is funny” target audience? Or, does it appeal to the more general market that enjoys rooting for the underdog?
Whatever the reason, Adult Swim’s unique and intriguing content delivery system seems to work: The most-viewed video in the “Top Rated” section is 50% higher in ratings but only 15% higher in views compared to the most-viewed video in the “Top Hated” section. Plus, I was immediately drawn to the section, wondering why these videos were hated from an anthropological perspective.
In general, “Top Rated” content sorting boosts views because videos, like all other viewable and downloadable content online, are subject to what sociologists refer to as the “Matthew effect,” or cumulative advantage. This is where “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” The theory goes that when others assign high social value to something – in this case, a video rating – that thing will tend to garner higher and higher social value still. We are, after all, a socially-influenced society.
Then why would a video with a rating 50% higher than another video only earn 15% more views?
The answer is clear. When it comes to online video consumption, it seems the factor that has the most impactful social influence is number of views – and not ratings. This certainly is not a surprise, but the technique that Adult Swim employs here is rather ingenious. While their low-rated videos usually might have fallen off the consumption map, they chose to highlight them instead – boosting views, popularity, and the quirky associations with their brand.
Would you ever highlight “Top Hated” content? Let us know in the comments.
