Among the fall TV shows premiering this month, This Is Us is among the few that have already pulled away from the pack. After a strong ratings start, NBC has greenlit five additional episodes of the Dan Fogelman dramedy, bringing its first season order up to 18 episodes.
Canvs, the language analytics company, took a look at social media response to NBC programming over the past two weeks (Sept. 16-29) to uncover what’s been driving the most emotional response from viewers. Fan favorite The Voice accounted for 32% of the 309,687 Emotional Reactions (ERs) sparked by NBC programming — no surprise, since competition shows (and reality TV) tend to dominate social media response — followed by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (19.3%).
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This Is Us is in third place behind those established network series, but in first place among new NBC shows, having generated 11.4% of all NBC ERs across the two-week period. In other words, roughly 1 in 10 ERs about NBC shows were inspired by the new dramedy.
The opening episode on Sept. 20 generated 23,021 ERs, with 53.3% of all tweets about This Is Us expressing some sort of emotion. The top emotions were good (14.7%), excited (12.3%), crazy (6.2%) and beautiful (4.3%), with love dominating at 48.4%.
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This Is Us is so incredible.
— Demmii (@ShadeOfLovato) September 21, 2016
@NBCThisisUs is a new favorite. So amazed
— Katie Covey (@ktcovey) September 21, 2016
Although the second episode registered fewer (12,367) ERs — which pretty much always happens in the episodes following a premiere — those in the love category actually saw a slight increase (to 49.5%), giving the show a 162% higher-than-average love reaction volume when compared to other NBC programming.
I just love #ThisIsUs such an amazing tv show.
— Mairel Adames (@MairelAdames) September 28, 2016
For additional context, we also looked at another high-profile addition to the NBC fall lineup: The Good Place, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, which kicked off its first season with a back-to-back two-episode premiere on Sept. 19. The opening night sparked 4,166 ERs, with love ERs leading the way (42.0%). Keep in mind that 30-minute sitcoms are generally at a disadvantage to hour-long dramas because they offer viewers half the window for real-time social media response — though, the back-to-back premiere-night episodes temporarily changed that equation.
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#TheGoodPlace is my new favorite show!
— Simon John Cheng (@SimonJC_) September 20, 2016
Although The Good Placedipped in the ratings after the season premiere, and episodes 3 and 4 only sparked 2,023 ERs combined, the love expressed for both airings grew to 44.8% of total ERs. Over the past two weeks, the sitcom has sparked 1.8% of all ERs by NBC series, making it the second most emotionally reacted-to new show on the network.
Holy sheep! The Good Place is a forkin' amazing show!
— Amber Rodriguez (@AmbahInvasion) September 30, 2016
