Comments on: How Samberg and Social Media Saved SNL

By: How Samberg and Social Media Saved SNL (repost) « Searching For Savvy

How Samberg and Social Media Saved SNL (repost) « Searching For Savvy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:43:53 +0000

[...] This was original posted on LaunchSquad’s Exclamation blog. [...]

By: This Week’s Bits & Bytes | Bits & Bytes 2.0

This Week’s Bits & Bytes | Bits & Bytes 2.0 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:20:22 +0000

[...] How Samberg and Social Media Saved SNL — How Saturday Night Live’s "Digital Short" features kept them relevant in the days of YouTube and social networking. Includes links to all the classics (Lazy Sunday, D&*k in a Box, etc.) [...]

By: TravisV

TravisV — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:58:01 +0000

Good post. But seems like if the content isn’t funny – all these new social channels that SNL pushed them through wouldn’t have made any difference at all.

By: Jeff Horwich

Jeff Horwich — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:53:36 +0000

Great post. And your thesis is totally right — these videos have given the show a huge boost.

BUT I have to ask: Where would these videos be without…the show? Maybe it’s a taste thing, but I would say that perhaps 1 in 5 Samberg Digital Shorts is actually good (Laser Cats? That “on a boat” thing? The dozen others none of us even remember? There are plenty of duds for every score.)

And there are lots of good, funny videos being produced and posted online. The competition to get noticed in that space is insane.

However far the show had declined, the traditional, old-media platform of TV — and the name-recognition and credibility of SNL — were HUGE in terms of just putting these videos in front of someone in the first place. After all, if no one encounters a video in the first place, who is there to pass it on? In this case, millions encountered it just by sitting in front of their TV on Saturday night.

How would these vids have fared just floating in the YouTube ocean by themselves?

I would argue that while viral video saved SNL, it was a symbiotic relationship. SNL — by putting a few of them on its good old fashioned airwaves — actually gave a huge boost to viral video. Or at least viral videos made by Andy Samberg and Co.

Jeff Horwich
In The Loop