Big social data analytics of changes in consumer behaviour and opinion of a TV broadcaster

This paper examines the changes in consumer behaviour and opinions due to the transition from a public to a commercial broadcaster in the context of broadcasting international media events. By analyzing TV viewer ratings, Facebook activity and its sentiment, we aim to provide answers to how the transition from airing Winter Olympic Games on NRK to TV2 in Norway affected consumer behaviour and opinion. We used text classification and visual analytics methods on the business and social datasets. Our main finding is a clear link between negative sentiment and commercials. Despite positive change in customer behaviour, there was a negative change in customer opinion. Based on media events and broadcaster theories, we identify generalisable findings for all such transitions.