Shows entertain, stir up conversations during quarantine
Many people have turned to reality TV and documentaries for at-home entertainment amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reelgood.
The movie and television streaming search engine recently shared information — based on data collected from 2 million monthly Reelgood users — about the streaming services with the most documentary and reality TV content as well as which shows and series were the most popular during quarantine.
When it comes to reality TV, Hulu is the winner with 265 shows for viewers to choose from, followed by Netflix with 180 and Tubi with 135.
With regards to entertaining documentary enthusiasts, Netflix is the top pick with 383 series, followed by Amazon Prime Video with 355 and Hulu with 222.
Overall, Netflix dominated the top spots for the most-watched reality TV and documentary series from March 15-May 31. Netflix’s “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” took first place with 35.6 percent, followed by HBO’s “McMillions” with 10.1 percent and, in a tie for third and both on Netflix, “Too Hot to Handle” and “Dirty Money” with 7.6 percent.
“Tiger King” proved popular in more than one study.
According to LoveCrafts.com — a global crafting community that has analyzed Google Trends data since March to discover the most popular Netflix shows across America — “Tiger King” was the most popular show on Netflix across the U.S., followed by “Money Heist” (which was also the mostwatched show in Florida) and “13 Reasons Why.”
The website also created a calculator to determine how much crafting can be accomplished while watching each of these shows.
“Knitting and watching TV have always gone handin-hand. There’s even a name for it now — Nitflixing!” said Edward Griffith, founder of LoveCrafts.com, in a press release. “With our craft calculators, you can now work out how many episodes it will take to complete your next project.”
For five hours of “Tiger King,” you can knit a pair of baby booties, while 31 hours of “Money Heist” nets a knitted adult hat and 46 hours of “13 Reasons Why” results in a crocheted bag.
Not only did TV shows entertain viewers throughout quarantine, but it also generated conversation, albeit virtually.
The Video Advertising Bureau conducted a sixweek study from March 16-April 16 that examines real-time social media conversations and reveals what people discussed online during the coronavirus pandemic. Called “#AloneTogether: Culture in the Time of COVID-19,” the study found that 75 percent of the top trending topics nightly on Twitter were related to viewers watching video content. Other findings include:
• Viewers tweeted about programming featured on 59 different video platforms and networks.
• At least one videorelated topic trended on Twitter daily during the six-week analysis. The content ranged from scripted dramas to reality TV, live news specials and sports-related updates.
• Entertainment content made up 78 percent of ad-supported TV programs trending in the top 10 on
Twitter and 64 percent of total ad-supported TV topics.
• Ad-supported TV programming specials — such as live music performances, late-night fundraisers and televised town halls — were top trending Twitter
topics on the nights each premiered.
• Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays were the most popular days for ad-supported, TV-related online conversations.
• The 2020 NFL Draft and “The Last Dance” documentary about Michael Jordan’s last championship season with the Chicago Bulls were among the number one top trending Twitter topics.
For more information about the study, go to thevab.com/insight/alonetogether.