Can Social Media Influencers Increase Viewers for Traditional TV Shows?

Influencer marketing may be the shot in the arm that The Amazing Race needs. Entering its 28th season, the reality series has seen a decline in ratings over the past few years. In fact, last season it saw its worst numbers yet, with an average of just 7.49 million viewers tuning in for a show that previously posted as many as 12.32 million viewers per episode.

To turn the tide on audience erosion, CBS has decided to stock the cast this season with influencers from YouTube, Vine, and Instagram, according to Variety. With built-in audiences and promotional opportunities from the influencers themselves, The Amazing Race stands to benefit from fans and followers of almost two dozen social media celebrities tuning in to see their favorite creators compete in the puzzle-driven, globetrotting show.

Influencers in this season’s Amazing Race cast include the guys behind the Psychobabble podcast, which has almost 25 million followers and co-host Tyler Oakley has another nearly 8 million on his own. Viners Cole LaBrant, Zach King, and Darius and Cameron Benson are also forming teams to compete in the Race. From Instagram, CBS has tapped Jessica Versteeg and Brittany Oldehoff. From YouTube, Rooster Teeth hosts Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins will form a team, beauty tip vlog queen Blair Fowler will pair up with her own father, Brodie Smith and a Frisbee-playing teammate will suit up, and the hosts of Clevver News, Erin White Robinson and Joslyn Davis, are also in it to win it.

 

While Dancing with the Stars has previously worked with YouTuber Bethany Mota and The Streamy Awards were brought to traditional TV for the first time this year, The Amazing Race is almost exclusively cast with social media creators. With an experiment like this, all eyes from the traditional TV networks will be on the show to see how effectively an influencer marketing campaign bumps a show’s ratings.

Targeting micro-audiences across a variety of channels has been very successful for brands interested in getting their products to a wider audience and this experiment at The Amazing Race will be a chance to see how that strategy translates into reality television. If this works well, expect to see contestants on future reality drawn from influencers with established audiences that producers hope will follow them to a television show.