Share Rocket evidence, WTXF vs. WPVI, 2017 into 2018

Share Rocket said the Fox 29 social media team was very effective until I left on Aug. 10, 2017. Coincidence?

You can hardly miss the fourth quarter Fox 29 drop, in both Share and Engagement numbers, while powerhouse 6ABC got its act together and climbed.

In fact, Fox 29 dropped significantly in Share for each of the two quarters after I left. (That’s worse than -10% per quarter and that’s all I know, because Share Rocket stopped posting the information on its website!) Even its first quarter 2018 gain in Engagement, with the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl, lagged the market, causing its Share to tumble. Details below.

EVIDENCE: (Articles show performance in the top 5 markets. Just scroll down to Philadelphia, market #4. Web producers at Fox 29 only did Facebook, not Twitter nor Instagram.)

2017 Q1: http://sharerocket.com/share-rockets-top-markets-1-5/
2017 Q2: http://sharerocket.com/share-rockets-top-10-dma-2nd-quarter-social-review-1-5/
2017 Q3: http://sharerocket.com/share-rockets-3rd-quarter-social-review-1-5/
2017 Q4: http://sharerocket.com/share-rockets-fourth-quarter-social-review-1-5/
2018 Q1: http://sharerocket.com/share-rockets-2018-first-quarter-social-review-1-5/

Due to the Eagles’ Super Bowl win on Feb. 4 on NBC/WCAU, all six local stations Share Rocket tracked saw significant quarter-to-quarter bumps in total Engagement, and four of those stations saw increases of 40% or more.

Quarter to Quarter (4Q 2017 — 1Q 2018)
WCAU: total Engagements UP + 52%
WPVI: total Engagements UP + 44.4%
Fox 29: total Engagements UP + 22.9%
KYW-TV: total Engagements UP + 16.7%

NOTE: Fox 29 was NOT among the four of six stations that saw total Engagement increases “of 40% or more.” The station underperformed, causing it to fall to the lower side of growth than the market average. Its Share actually dropped for the quarter, despite carrying so many Eagles’ regular-season and playoff games into January. (No details were given on the Spanish stations.)

The main WTXF Facebook page generated more than 4.2 million Engagements and averaged more than 1,160 Engagements per post.

As a group, the WTXF pages generated more than 7.3 million total Engagements, which was a 22.9% increase from the previous quarter.

The station really benefited from having the No. 1 individual in the market, morning anchor Alex Holley. She generated more than 960,000 Engagements in the quarter across all platforms. (Simple division: Alex was responsible for more than 13% of total engagements all by herself!)

Click here for PGN analytics from early 2019.