Brand managers ride the wave as ‘Grease Live!’ TV ratings soar

Fox’s “Grease Live!” electrified Twitter on Sunday night for the entirety of its three-hour broadcast.

The star-powered musical—a hybrid of the 1971 Broadway production and 1978 movie—pulled in 12.2 million viewers and featured celebrities with significant online followings.

Vanessa Hudgens, who played Rizzo in Sunday’s performance, has 5.7 million devoted Twitter followers, and Julianne Hough (Sandy) has nearly 1.2 million. Marketing technology group Amobee reported that these two names were among the top three mentioned in the nearly 1,400,000 Tweets using the #GreaseLive hashtag.

TV networks including Fox and NBC have marketed the live-musical format to sway viewers from using ad-skipping digital video recorders. This has proved successful in both ratings and engagement online. Brand managers are also getting in on the online action that surrounds these live broadcasts.

Rather than simply mentioning the hashtag to establish a presence online, some social media marketers opted to take a more clever, event-themed approach:

Coca-Cola: the perfect date night drink for both T-Birds and Pink Ladies. #GreaseLive

— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) February 1, 2016

Were you born to hand jive? #GreaseLive http://pic.twitter.com/P1BicftxOL

— Getty Images VIP (@GettyVIP) February 1, 2016

Other social media pros opted to target specific cast members, most notably Vanessa Hudgens, whose father died the morning of the performance. The #VanessaHudgens hashtag pulled in 90,756 tweets—the most of the night for any cast member.

BRAVA, @VanessaHudgens. You’re such a trooper & inspiration. Sending you all the love. https://t.co/MYTFSIbglH #GreaseLive

— broadway.com (@broadwaycom) February 1, 2016

Netflix took a nostalgic approach, probably to endorse Hudgen’s claim to fame: “High School Musical.” The release is available on DVD through the site:

Freshman year VS Senior year #GreaseLive http://pic.twitter.com/6efD3wdPqN

— Netflix Life (@TheNetflixLife) February 1, 2016

Even small organizations such as this local movie theater in Minneapolis used the hashtag:

You guys like #GreaseLive Last night? We have events like that all the time Check them out: https://t.co/9K9TOP4xeJ http://pic.twitter.com/Rn5KFcr8bD

— ShowPlace ICON (@ShowPlaceICON) February 1, 2016

After the ratings rolled in, Fox worked to keep the “Grease Live” conversation going online:

#GreaseLive is the word and you can watch your favorite clips right NOW: https://t.co/iLlbGhX70B http://pic.twitter.com/wCokZ4zJUH

— GREASE: LIVE (@GoGrease) February 1, 2016

Want to relive every moment from #GreaseLive? Watch it on @FOXNOW: https://t.co/sJ8kHgcOJz http://pic.twitter.com/oTO2WfyAxD

— GREASE: LIVE (@GoGrease) February 1, 2016

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What do you think, Raganreaders? What did brand managers do well to capitalize on “Grease Live’s” audience—and what could they have done better?

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