How Wheel of Fortune Solved Instant Boredom Syndrome (You Can, Too!!)
We all have a dreaded disease Big Pharma has yet to bombard our TV with ads. IBS is Instant Boredom Syndrome. We get bored quickly with everything.
The most critical part of a content break is its start. In its first few seconds, listeners are making conscious and unconscious decisions: is this topic interesting to me? Do I care about it? Is it entertaining? Yes, and they stay for a few. No and we lose them in some fashion. Each of us do, too, when consuming content. Which brings me to Wheel of Fortune.
It’s the most popular game on television whose ratings have not eroded over the years. This, in part, was due to the affable Pat and Vanna but also because of its design.
It’s highly familiar, which plays in its favor. It’s mind-candy, too (not very taxing after a long day at work). But over the years, it’s evolved. Because we have changed as viewers.
I talked about this in the blog I Learned How to Do Radio From Pat Sajak and Porn. In it, I note how Wheel re-designed the beginning of the game years ago to hook us more quickly because we all have IBS. Once the letters start appearing on Vanna’s board, that’s when we’re in as viewers.
Need proof? Here are two video clips. The first is an early Wheel when they started the program by showcasing the prizes to win (not the prizes I couldn’t win as a viewer, of course), then an intro of Pat and Vanna, then the worst part, the interview with the contestants. Watch this and see they don’t make this about us (we want the puzzles, the puzzles!!) until 3:01. I don’t care about any of this as a viewer. They’re giving me many reasons to depart. All of it delays my win, which is guessing the puzzle before the three contestants. Then watch the newer show after the redesign. The first letter in the first puzzle appears at :31.
Here’s Wheel of Fortune from yesteryear with a whole lot of This Doesn’t Matter to Me. IBS is killer. Take note of when your Instant Boredom Syndrome kicks in.
Now here’s Wheel of Fortune today, with a much faster start and hook for those of us watching.
Some radio shows continue to put listeners through process and promotional stuff at the beginning of breaks, delaying the actual content (whether a story or game or interview or other substantive content), eroding listeners’ interest and inviting them to stop paying attention.
Listeners come for content so let’s engage them there almost immediately, before their IBS kicks in. In your prep, spend the most amount of time figuring out how to engage the audience the quickest so what you do in your first twenty seconds makes them want to hear the twenty seconds after that.
When airchecking shows, I sometimes play “The 20 Second Game”. We listen to just the first twenty seconds of a content break and for one purpose. Is enough done to hold on to the listener for another twenty seconds? Don’t be version #1 of Wheel above. Be version #2. Your fans will renew their interest for more of that content and stick around.
Show these videos to your talent to help them get to it quickly so fans don’t mentally drift. We are given precious few seconds to grab the audience. Let’s not disrespect that lest their IBS appear and they move on to another available choice for connection, content, and entertainment.