Who Really Won The Palin/Biden Debate? Tina Fey, SNL & New Media
Oct 13th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Internet TV, Video
While the pundits may still be debating who the political fallout of the Biden/Palin Vice Presidential Candidate Debate, it looks like Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live and new media are the real winners.Â
Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin has been hugely popular, big enough to influence the future of television. According to Integrated Media Measurement (IMMI), twice as many people saw Tina Fey’s routine online as watched it on television.Â
Among all the people who saw at least one of the three SNL Tina Fey sketches, 33% watched it on television during the original broadcast and 67% watched after the original broadcast either online or on a DVR.
“This is the first time we’ve seen delayed viewing numbers this big,” said Amanda Welsh, head of research for San Mateo, Calif.-based IMMI. “Usually it’s the other way around, with the overwhelming majority of viewing occurring during the actual broadcast.”
“Because of the multiple media platforms available to consumers, it is becoming increasingly easier to propagate viewing around the world–which, as was the case here, far exceeded the original viewership,” she added.
People’s attention is moving online – and viral videos like the Tina Fey Sarah Palin sketches are getting bigger audiences online than offline.
SNL sees the writing on the wall: if the audience is online, that’s where the money is going to be, so SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels is in talks to develop an Internet video destination based on the show.
As far as I am concerned, Tina Fey owes Sarah Palin for resurrecting her failing career and the biggest laugh will be when Palin/McCain win the election and Tina Fey has to bow out…..I find no humor in humilitating a public figiure who would like to serve their country. What contribution has Tina Fey made to our country and why do I even care what her political beliefs are.
I use to like watching SNL and now I rather watch reruns of other shows.
April Merenda
First of all, I have to correct a grammatical error in your post, April.
“I find no humor in humiliating a public figure who would like to serve their country.”
Because you used the phrase “a public figure,” your pronoun should also be singular. Therefore, change “their” to her (or his, whichever you prefer). Also, you follow that sentence with a rhetorical question that is begging for a question mark.
Secondly, as a comedian, Tina Fey has made her humor a contribution to American society. Our society loves entertainment. We unabashedly pay our actors, movie-stars, and athletes staggering wages. I, for one, am thankful to have comedians. They say such honest things.
Thirdly, as evidenced by her Emmy wins for 30 Rock, I think it is safe to say that Tina Fey’s career was doing just fine pre-Palin. It is Saturday Night Live who is thankful for the election news.
Finally, I would just like to say that it is entirely American to make fun of ourselves–especially our elected leaders. A healthy sense of humor is a good form of self-evaluation and ridicule. We can see a lot about ourselves through the eyes of a comedian.
Hmm, I’d not get out the champagne just yet for SNL – your video says ‘Only available in America’ – one of the big problems with SNL is the figures are very conservative since people put them onto YouTube to get round the block, then play cat and mouse with the owners of SNL as they pull the videos.
I would say they ‘own’ viral video and online video only when they stop doing stuff like that, it actually reduces their audience and to people who can’t get SNL raises their profile. Silly.
But Tina Fey? She’s the biz!
April –
“What contribution has Tina Fey made to our country and why do I even care what her political beliefs are.”
Sarah Palin, last time I checked; is a bad mother that concealed her pregnancy and flew at 7 months in spite of Dr’s orders; is a poor parent who has forced her unwed pregnant daughter to deal with the pressure of the world’s scrutiny; is a liar that preached fiscal conservatism while she inflated Wasilla’s budget and left the city 20 million in debt; is woefully unprepared to lead the country, since her foreign policy knowledge, in her words, is limited to living close to other countries; is not worthy of the public’s trust, since a bipartisan commission found that she betrayed the trust of her office by using it to pursue personal vendettas; and she’s incompetent as a politician, making a fool of herself and her party in interview after interview and leading many conservative republicans to call for her to withdraw from the ticket.
If you can’t find the humor in the fact that John McCain stooped so low to conquer, then you’re in the minority.
Tina Fey for VP!
And let’s not get into the fact that Sarah Palin sought protection from witches for Alaska, or that she thinks dinosaurs roamed the earth with people 6,000 years ago.
It that’s not funny, it’s really scary.
Tina Fey simply isn’t funny.
End of story.
J.R.
People must just find making fun of Sarah Palin pretty funny then.