Timing is everything.
Over the past 30 days, the search term “Star Wars” has been mentioned more than 10,000 times across U.S. television and radio. Analyzing this coverage, there are two important dates in coverage: 4/29 and 5/04. Identifying these two days, and less than a week apart, they represent 40% of the total broadcast media coverage on Star Wars in a 30 day period.
These two dates also highlight the importance of timing in a media strategy. On 4/29, less a week before the popular (and unofficial) holiday celebrating the sci-fi classic, “May the Fourth Be With You”, the official cast of a new film in the trilogy was announced. More than 1,500 local and national news outlets covered this announcement on 4/29, rallying fans.
Less than a week later, and with the announcement still fresh on the minds of millions, Star Wars Day, or May the Fourth Be With You, carried more than 2,444 mentions on 5/04. Was a decision made to announce the official cast of the film a week prior to Star Wars Day?
Whether by luck, or grand design, this is an exciting start to the continuation of the Star Wars films, as a random sampling from April 15, 2014, showed less than 200 mentions across television and radio. With daily references across all forms of media, a timeline of coverage shows that Star Wars is a frequently cited reference in our culture.
And for WTXL, ABC 27 in Tallahassee, the media is looking forward to covering, and “being” more Star Wars in the days, months and years ahead.
Media analytics provided by Critical Mention
