by Damian Grimling | Nov 6, 2021 | Sentimenti research
When sentiment analysis began to be used for marketing activities in the early 2000s, it opened up vast opportunities for the marketing and advertising industries. Understanding consumer sentiment allowed for better validation of actions and more precise targeting of target groups. Today, 20 years later, new doors are opening—rather than just measuring sentiment, we can now analyze emotions, and this offers even more benefits. What are they?
FROM THIS ARTICLE, YOU WILL LEARN: |
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What is the difference between sentiment and emotion? -
What is the difference between sentiment analysis and emotion analysis? -
How do the results of both algorithms look in practice? -
Emotion analysis is not only effective in content marketing -
Perspectives on the development of emotion analysis tools |
Differences Between Sentiment and Emotions: Full List of Emotions
First, let’s define sentiment and emotions—the most important differences arise at this basic level because sentiment and emotions are two distinct phenomena.
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- Sentiment is the state in which a person experiencing emotions can name what they are feeling, connect that experience with thoughts about it, and then make a conscious decision regarding the source of the stimulus. Sentiment, therefore, is the sum of physiological reactions (from the body) and cognitive processes triggered by the experience of emotions. Since it is a conscious state, it can be sustained by the person experiencing it. In general, sentiment is a broad mental attitude towards a particular experience.
- Emotions, on the other hand, are the physiological and, consequently, psychological brain responses to an external stimulus or an experience related to such a stimulus. The combination of the experience and the body’s reaction (hormonal activity) causes a short-lived and unconscious state, leading to specific actions such as fight, flight, freeze, awe, disgust, etc. What’s more—each emotion is tied to a different type of reaction, resulting in different behaviors.
As you can see, without experiencing emotions, you cannot enter a state of sentiment. Emotions operate at the lowest, behavioral level, while sentiment is their reflection, consideration, and evaluation by the person experiencing them. Emotions cause spontaneous reactions, while sentiment leads to conscious and controlled actions. The most significant difference: there are only eight basic emotions (according to Plutchik’s theory: joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise, anticipation, and trust), which, when combined, form secondary, higher emotions that lead to the creation of feelings. In the case of sentiment, we are dealing only with positive and negative sentiment, sometimes also neutral.
Exploring Emotions: Media Monitoring vs. Sentitool – A Tool Comparison
Just as the phenomena of sentiment and emotions differ, so do the tools used to analyze them. These tools leverage advanced technologies such as neurolinguistic programming, machine learning, and other AI algorithms. Currently, in the Polish market for sentiment analysis in online content, several reputable companies exist, but in the field of emotion analysis, only one stands out as a true pioneer—Sentimenti. Below is a comparison of the general capabilities of sentiment and emotion analysis tools.
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examining the general tone of statements made by Internet users, article authors, etc. -
determine the user's impression and attitude after reading the text -
ease of processing and estimation of analysis results -
Useful for evaluating online brand mentions, social media management and customer communications, including complaint handling -
crisis communication support -
comparing consumer attitudes toward our own and competitors' products | -
to examine the instinctive reactions of Internet users and the intentions of the creators -
The ability to get to the emotions behind a particular sentiment and determine the future actions of those commenting -
Much greater range of information collected (8 emotions, sentiment analysis and emotional arousal) -
ability to work on huge groups of respondents -
assessment of consumer sentiment before and after the advertising campaign -
validation of marketing strategies -
monitoring emotions about the company in online mentions -
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comparing brand perceptions -
analysis of emotions associated with influencers, YouTubers, bloggers, etc. to accurately select a brand ambassador |
Conclusion: The common (even within the industry) usage of the terms sentiment analysis and emotion analysis is incorrect. Sentiment is a much narrower concept, indicating in practice only the tone of a statement and possibly the mood of the author. Emotion analysis, on the other hand, describes the level of individual emotions (providing a percentage result for eight components, as well as the type of sentiment and the level of emotional arousal); with this data, consumer reactions and behaviors can be predicted with high accuracy.
As you can see, this data is more detailed; its analysis is more challenging, but it is also more accurate and comprehensive. Sentimenti’s algorithm includes as many as 30,000 words and phrases collected from a group of 22,000 people. The algorithm itself was developed in collaboration with the Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the Brain Imaging Lab of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
How Do the Results of Both Algorithms Look in Practice?
Time for some practice! Take a look at the following analysis of a real review:
I will never buy anything from smelly V(…) again. I recently decided I didn’t want to buy tragic clothes from chain stores, so I bought from there, and the supposedly perfect condition item, without signs of wear, had a stain that was visible. The woman claims that when she sent it, the stain wasn’t there.
This review is authentic and taken directly from a portal. What can you read from it when measuring sentiment versus emotion?
Results: Anger – 70%, Fear – 45%, Anticipation – 24%, Surprise – 57%, Trust – 14%, Sadness – 60%, Disgust – 62%, Joy – 10%, Positive sentiment – 10%, Negative sentiment – 70%, Emotional arousal – 72%.
The comment comes from a disappointed customer who, instead of making a purchase from one of the popular boutiques, opted for what she considered higher-quality used clothes. The purchase turned out to be unsuccessful, and the item was stained despite being described as in good condition. The buyer is clearly upset (emotional arousal at 72%), angry (a high 70%), feeling disgust (62%) and sadness (60%)—as she expected a good purchase. Notice that the woman also exhibits a high level of surprise (57%) and fear (45%)—when you add the disgust result, you can understand that this is her physical reaction to the experience of being deceived.
Now look at the same review from a sentiment analysis perspective: you receive two results—negative (70%) and positive (10%). The negative sentiment is evident even without automatic analysis, given phrases like smelly, tragic, stain, woman. The phrases supposedly perfect condition and without signs of wear build the low positive sentiment score.
The key information, however, is hidden—the phrase smelly refers directly to the shopping platform, tragic to the quality of chain store clothes, and woman to the seller. The overall tone of the review is set by the epithets unrelated directly to the purchased item, yet the sentiment analysis result remains negative.
Conclusion: With percentage results for basic emotions and knowledge of the typical physiological reactions they correspond to, you can estimate consumer behavior in this situation. Anger is associated with an attack response (hence the comment on the portal), disgust and fear with flight, and sadness with freezing. The emotional consumer will likely switch to another platform or opt for in-person shopping. She will probably not use this platform again.
Emotion Analysis is Effective Beyond Content Marketing
You’ve just seen how sentiment and emotion analysis results are interpreted in a specific example, and what kind of insights you can gain from them. As you’ve likely noticed, emotion analysis is a far more comprehensive, complete solution tailored to customer needs. But are emotion analysis algorithms limited to marketing, PR, or customer service?
Definitely not. With the development of machine learning technology and the implementation of increasingly sophisticated AI algorithms, the possibilities of emotion analysis extend into other industries. Today, emotions can be analyzed, for example, to forecast stock market prices or investment opportunities in the cryptocurrency market.
Future Prospects for Emotion Analysis Tools
If the above information hasn’t convinced you of the superiority of emotion analysis over sentiment analysis, look at the development potential of the former. Artificial intelligence is already highly advanced. Today, AI is being implemented not only to study but also to create emotionally engaging content aimed at achieving set goals.
These goals include increasing conversion rates from marketing activities, acquiring more effective leads, or providing customer service tailored to consumer needs (including potential crisis situations and ways to avoid them). The latter goal significantly improves user experience, increasing customer loyalty to the brand, which, in turn, strengthens the brand’s position in the market. That’s the potential of this technology—sentiment analysis can’t do that.
by Igor Starczak | Sep 30, 2021 | SentiBrand
Advertising, marketing, and communication activities based on influencing the positive emotions of the audience are used frequently today because they are effective. Why? Such emotions can be easily transferred directly to the brand, and thus build a positive image of the brand. Besides, influencing the emotions of the audience allows not only to better anchor the brand in their consciousness, but also to stimulate them to a certain action. But are positive emotions really always positive for a brand?
Positive emotions are generally those emotions that we experience with pleasure. To put it in scientific jargon, they are pleasant or desirable situational reactions, distinct from pleasant sensations and undifferentiated positive affect. Such emotions include love, joy, satisfaction, contentment, interest, amusement, happiness, peace or delight, among others.
How do they work? Experiencing positive emotions:
- expands a person’s set of values and beliefs,
- stimulates openness,
- makes it easier to find solutions in a difficult situation,
- makes it easier to get out of one’s comfort zone and pick up ideas or take actions that are not typical for a person.
This very mechanism is used by advertising, marketing and communication campaigns to strengthen the relationship of customers with the brand, encourage them to buy products and services, join newsletters, etc.
However, what specialists do not want to remember is that every stick has two ends. Yes, yes: positive emotions also have their dark side. Take joy – an emotion with a clear positive connotation. As research shows [1], people who intensely pursue happiness have a greater ease of experiencing depressive states, feeling unhappy and being depressed. They also tend to be more selfish and feel lonely.
The study also indicated that anger may have an impact on performing certain actions more effectively, such as those of a confrontational nature (we wrote about the positive effects of negative emotions in a previous article). In contrast, emotions of a positive nature can sometimes have the opposite effect.
Positive and negative emotions are like yin and yang
They cannot exist separately, but complement each other. Sometimes people feel both positive and negative emotions simultaneously in certain situations (especially stressful ones). This happens, for example, when moving out of the family home or when graduating from college. In such moments, one may feel joy and sadness at the same time – emotions that, in the study, have opposite charges to each other.
People who have succeeded under ambiguous circumstances will have a similar emotional experience. Moreover, those who have suffered a failure, and this failure brought them a kind of deliverance from a difficult situation, or its consequences were not as terrible as it promised to be at first.
The above information shows that basing communication with customers solely on positive emotions is wrong. The study of the effects of such activities will be falsified because it is incomplete. To assess the emotionality of the recipients of marketing, advertising, PR and other activities, one needs not only a tool that cross-searches the emotions experienced by a person or group of people in a given situation. It is also necessary to take a more flexible approach to understanding the role of emotions themselves. It is best to assume that a given emotion can play several, sometimes conflicting roles.
The high effectiveness of marketing or communication activities based on positive emotions is very tempting for specialists. However, there is a considerable risk in this. Constant pumping of a positive emotional balloon causes frustration in the recipients of such communications after some time. This can lead to a loosening of the relationship with the brand, breaking that relationship, or even turning to the competition.
Imagine being in the company of an overly cheerful person for a long time, almost flooding with optimism or trying to make everyone around happy… by force. Tiring, isn’t it?
Receiving positively charged, but served in too large a dose of brand communication will work similarly. It will be perceived as intrusive, tiresome and inauthentic. Consumers will react skeptically to such actions.
Why? Because as emotional beings, we are only complete when positive emotions are joined by negative ones. When we accept their existence and integrate the whole with each other. This mechanism also translates into the reception of emotionally charged communication.
By focusing in communication exclusively on positive messages and not taking information about the negative emotions of its audience, the company commits a cognitive error (the so-called Pollyanna effect). Customers in the cognitive loop of positive emotions will contribute little analytical information about consumer behavior, and will not act. Instead, customers in negative emotions will provide this information. This is because their natural reflex will be to want to break out of the loop of negative emotions, so they will take appropriate steps to take so.
With incomplete data on negative reactions, the full potential of positive emotions cannot be realized
This reduces the value and effectiveness of the actions taken by the brand. A holistic analysis of emotions and sentiment will help in this case to identify potential changes in consumer behavior. And it is additionally important to remember that it is negative emotions that have a greater impact on changes in behavior and personality formation.
The use of only positive emotions in marketing, advertising, and communications is often due to the social stigmatization of negative feelings, and therefore fear of them. This phenomenon can be observed especially where a social pattern of functioning is translated into the way an organization operates. For example, there is regular fearmongering and manipulation in public spaces, for example, by politicians, religious leaders, etc.
Under such circumstances, negative emotions are perceived as an enemy or at least as a weakness, and these, after all, should be protected against. Choosing only positive solutions is therefore here a socially expected form of protecting oneself, the organization or the brand. A way to manage the company and a method to build an image in the public space.
However, with the simultaneous denial of negative emotions, such a model of company operation or a way of brand communication becomes a powerful ballast in development and a barrier to achieving the goals. The vast majority of energy in this case is directed at building and maintaining an illusory positive image of reality. Human resources and financial outlays are directed to this goal.
If a crisis arises, such as an image crisis, it will be much more severe and long-lasting for the organization because its symptoms will be denied and repressed. It will be much more difficult for a given company to recover from such a crisis. It will need not only to take corrective steps against misguided actions, but also to reevaluate the entire way the organization functions.
Emotions are important components in creating the customer experience (CX) with a company. Placing communication solely on positive emotions and experiences deprives a company’s analytical cells of an significant range of information regarding specific consumer behavior. This leads to an incomplete depiction and therefore incomplete understanding of the needs of that company’s customers. As a result, these needs remain unmet, which eventually results in declines in sales, an overall reduction in brand appeal and a gradual exodus of dissatisfied customers toward competitors.
Consider customers’ experience of interacting with a brand in terms of the emotions they feel
These experiences result from the interactions between the various points of contact between consumers and the company at the pre-purchase, during purchase and post-purchase stages. The experiences from these interactions can sometimes be contradictory. A customer may experience positive emotions when reading enthusiastic product reviews or watching emotionally charged advertisements. However, he or she will also experience negative emotions when waiting for a long time for an ordered product, when demand increased by advertisements causes delays in delivery.
Such impressions in contact with the company can then:
- reflect negatively on the image of the brand (it is inefficient, it does not cope with meeting the needs of customers),
- project negative opinions about the product (when the frustration caused by waiting too long outweighs the level of satisfaction with the user, or when the product does not fully satisfy the user’s expectations, has defects, etc.).
In the case in question, betting only on creating positive communication misses the point. Again, the needs of the users of the product or service are overlooked, which leads to a progressive degradation of customer attachment to the brand or commodity.
Using only communication based on positive emotions and building customer attachment to them is, finally, fraught with yet another mistake. Without expected results from marketing, PR or advertising activities, there may be a tendency to assume that the absence of positive resonance (i.e., the absence of positive emotions in customers) means the presence of negative emotions. This is not necessarily true.
The actions taken by the company will then focus on covering negative emotions with positive ones. And this will be a mistake because building relationships on positive emotions is of a different nature than neutralizing negative emotions. In such a case, it is necessary to conduct an analysis of customer emotions in response to the actions taken, which will enable validation and corrective steps to be taken.
Conclusion: a single positive customer experience can be valuable to him and result in the transfer of positive emotions into loyalty decisions. It can therefore strengthen his relationship with the company. But this positive experience can also make the resulting secondary positive experiences less exciting and valuable to the same customer. This raises the possibility that these positive experiences will not positively influence loyalty decisions.
All activities aimed at promoting and advertising a product or service, increasing brand awareness among current and future customers, and creating lasting and engaging B2C relationships are dependent on emotional charge. Their effectiveness will be greater the emotional charge, however, using the full spectrum of emotions – positive, neutral, and negative.
Positive emotions cannot function isolated from negative ones – this is simply unnatural. Example: a blog article about a particular product, which only mentions its advantages. Such posts are not uncommon. Meanwhile, it is enough to have a glance at the reviews of this product on the web, and it is already clear that the mentioned text is unreliable, and describing only the advantages of the product – manipulative.
The same is true of more general communication directed to customers. Striking only a positive note falsifies the picture and does not provide full data on implemented measures. If there are problems, fixing such communication becomes much more difficult. Therefore, if we are already using emotions to increase the engagement of our users, let’s dose them carefully and with the whole palette in mind. We will then have the best effect.
by Damian Grimling | Aug 5, 2021 | Politics and Social
This is undoubtedly one of the most commented political topics of recent weeks. Lex TVN. What it is. It’s a parliamentary draft of amendments to the media law, the proceedings of which coincided with the expiration of the license to broadcast the TVN24 television station. Is the topic heating up citizens online? If so, how much?
Lex TVN. What is it about and how do Internet users react?
- The TVN24 station, according to the new law, may not get its 10-year broadcasting license renewed,
- The topic has been one of the most popular in recent weeks and has been strongly agitating Internet users,
- Emotions are rising as soon as one remembers that the whole issue is being watched personally by US President Joe Biden.The topic of the concession to the TVN24 station stirs emotions, as evidenced by the high emotion arousal of Internet users. We examined the discussion of the so-called Lex TVN across the web (not only social media, but also comments under editorials and on forums and blogs and elsewhere). This is a total of almost 180,000 opinions of Internet users. The chart below illustrates the number of statements on the subject online and the average daily intensity of emotional arousal. The values of this indicator for the entire analyzed period, i.e. from July 8 to August 2 this year, were higher than 50%.
The topic of the TVN24 station’s concession stirs emotions, as evidenced by the high emotional arousal of Internet users. We examined the discussion of the so-called Lex TVN across the web (not only social media, but also comments under editorials and on forums and blogs and elsewhere). This is a total of almost 180,000 opinions of Internet users. The chart below illustrates the number of statements on the subject online and the average daily intensity of emotional arousal.
Contexts of negative discussion on Lex TVN
As is standard with the topic of media repolonization, the key contexts for negative discussion are: free media, freedom of speech, independent media. A lot of discussion was devoted to foreign capital in the media (here, too, the context is about private business, the civilized world, the owner of TVN). However, the citizen’s right to access the media and to reliable information was pointed out. As standard, criticism went in the direction of the ruling party, the public media were slashed (context: propaganda tube, brainwashing, dark people). Also standard in this type of discussion is extensive reference to other current policy issues. This is another typical clash of tribes in the digital world.
In terms of discussion venues, we recorded the most anger on news portals, i.e. in conversations among Internet users under editorials (level of almost 40%). The most joy, on the other hand, appeared on Facebook. There, many posts and content were published under which people cheered the opposition in taking action to defend their favorite TV station.
In general, however, the dominance of negative emotion is noticeable in all media, although the level of emotion saturation = 50% was not exceeded in any of the sources.
Conclusions
In 2020. Poland has dropped as many as 11 positions on the list of the strongest national brands (Soft Power Index). It seems that Lex TVN is another unnecessary and potentially dangerous image crisis for the country. Such events have a direct impact not only on polarizing citizens and fueling further conflicts. They cause more tangible losses – declines in the rankings of the strongest brands-countries (e.g., Country Index, in which Poland fell 11 notches to position 55 in 2020). The situation around Lex TVN – even if it’s just a holiday substitute topic – could scare off potential investors and damage our foreign policy.
From the point of view of surveys of conversations among Internet users, this is another topic in a whole sea of political topics to stir up the electorate online. It can also be a completely surrogate issue, thrown in by politicians for the vacation season to stoke extreme emotion. There is also no denying that the topic has somewhat run out of steam in recent days.
The defense, according to the opposition, of the so-called “free media” does not break through as strongly in the online world. The issue can also be considered on another level. The ruling party has a plan to win the next election. It can do this with TVN24 (it has succeeded many times), but it may not succeed in the absence of Internet control. Perhaps the next installment of the battle for control in the media will be in this space. The station, which is the subject of Lex TVN, will become a forbidden fruit once the new law is passed. This means that its popularity – contrary to the assumptions of the new law – is likely to soar.
by Sentimenti Team | Sep 14, 2020 | SentiBrand
Product reviews are extremely important for businesses. It doesn’t matter if it’s a local small business or a large conglomerate. Every business wants to climb to the top of the rankings on Google and inspire consumer confidence. It also wants online reviews to be only positive.
Product reviews and their value to your business
Product and service reviews that we come across online are very desirable for a business. They are the ones that increase search engine visibility and improve SEO. They also help build consumer trust and boost sales and conversions. They’re also a big advantage over the competition, as long as their content evokes positive emotions. The statistics speak for themselves. Reviews saturated with positive emotions can generate a lot of revenue. Products with an average rating of 5 stars receive up to 126% more orders than those with four stars.
On average, consumers read up to 10 online reviews before trusting a product or company. Up to 32% of consumers visit a company or product’s website after reading a positive review. SEO and SEO experts agree on this – generating online reviews is one of the top three best performing factors. 82% of consumers read online reviews of local businesses.
These reviews can provide the impetus for choosing between our company and a competitor. Online product reviews not only give consumers insight into the pros and cons of the products and/or services offered. They are also a great way to attract potential customers.
Online reviews and testimonials? The more of them, the better
While consumers will read many reviews before a brand inspires their trust, timing is crucial. Nearly half of consumers will only pay attention to reviews that have been written within the last 2 weeks and not a day more.
For many local businesses, the best place to build a review presence will be Google My Business. If you are dealing with a typical e-commerce business, you can build a profile on Trustpilot. Those in the hospitality industry can check reviews on TripAdvisor. Reviews can also be found on Facebook, Ceneo, GoWork and many other portals.
Analyzing online reviews, or what if there are already some?
You can do many things with online reviews. In addition to presenting reviews on your website, you can simply analyze their content and draw deeper conclusions. This allows you to go beyond star ratings and take your business to the next level.
Reviews can be a great source of information about your business or product. By analyzing the most common complaints about products, you can make improvements that will keep customers happy. The company through this will have better reviews in the future.
Review analysis, or the study of consumer emotions
Online reviews are an essential part of any business hoping to make a positive mark online and build consumer trust. Consumer reviews can be used to enhance brand reputation and improve services.
As an example, we used our tool to study emotions, arousal, and sentiment on several sample products. We took data from ceneo.pl from the last year.
The products were chosen quite randomly after taking into account only one parameter – a larger number of opinions in order to make the data representative. The group of tested products included several random phones, headphones and a water filter cartridge, cosmetics, medicine and a scooter.
- Apple AirPods 2 white (MRXJ2ZM/A)
- BRITA Maxtra Plus 5+1 pcs. Filter cartridge
- Apple iPhone 11 64GB Black
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro 64GB Star Grey
- Chlorchinaldin VP 20
- Xiaomi Mi Electric Scooter M365
- Long 4 Lashes Eyelash Growth Serum 3ml
- Xiaomi Redmi Airdots Black
- Samsung Galaxy A40 SM-A405 64GB Dual SIM Black
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro 6/64GB Gray
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T 4/64GB Blue
These are probably not all reviews of these products, but this is mainly an example of a survey and how to analyze content from consumers. Below are the results:
As can be seen, the Brita Maxtra product received the highest intensity of positive emotion and favorable image sentiment in this analysis. In the group of randomly tested products, the Samsung Galaxy A40 received the worst score. The order of products was arranged according to the value of positive sentiment – from highest to lowest.
An analysis of the intensity of joy, trust and anger in the surveyed opinions shows that non-technological products (phones, handsets) have joy and trust much less. Phones are characterized here by more criticism. When it comes to emotional arousal, i.e. the strength of emotion and the type of words used to express it, the best performer is Chlorchinaldin VP-20, and the worst – again – is Samsung Galaxy A40. This may mean that the criticism was not so strong in the case of this device, but it outweighed the positive emotions.
Selected negative with highest anger intensity:
- Unfortunately, the headphones COMPLETELY do not stick in the ears, no matter what kind of covers you use, and the second day one of them fell out of the ear and got lost. DO NOT RECOMMEND. 200 PLN thrown down the drain.
- Impressed by the positive reviews, I bought them at a low price. Very stable hold in the ear, have a nice case but that’s actually the end of the advantages. The manufacturer did not include any instructions so I had to reach for “tutorials” and “unboxingi” on youtube. In vain – the left earphone did not want to pair with the right one. It is worth knowing that the left handset connects with the right one and the right one connects with the phone. Several reset attempts did not help.
- Chinese fakes. The headphones cannot be paired with each other, despite following many instructions from the net. Both headphones are detected as right. No instructions in the box. No cable.
- 100% counterfeit I own the original and from this store. These fakes are not even 50% of the capabilities of the originals. I do not recommend
Selected negative with highest joy intensity:
- I have been using Brita for a long time. I stopped buying water at the store (especially in plastic) a long time ago. We have great quality tap water. After pouring it through the brite I am at peace with the quality. I recommend it to everyone. Great product.
- Very good quality. Son satisfied. I recommend
- Good quality product, fast delivery, everything is fine – I recommend 😉
- I bought it for a gift. My boyfriend is very happy and praises it. I recommend
As you can see, Sentimenti tool analysis allows you to not only examine the emotion saturation of review content. It also allows you to quickly categorize reviews into positive and negative. This process gives quick (in just a few minutes) and precise results. The above sample survey is just a prelude to further in-depth analysis. This type of research is done by Sentimenti team as a part of SentiBrand service.
by Sentimenti Team | Sep 26, 2019 | Politics and Social
Is popularity a matter of emotion? Everything points to it. We can measure the power of a message primarily by what emotions it evokes. Captive has made an impression on Polish viewers comparable to the adoration for Isaura’s Slave. We checked how the emotions expressed by them online changed during subsequent seasons and episodes.
“A costume series that was presented at the Cannes Film Festival” – this is how TVP begins the description of Zniewolona on its VOD site. The Russian-language Ukrainian production turned out to be a huge hit. During the broadcast of the first season, it was written about 348 times a day on average, the second season was commented on three times more often (about 962 mentions a day in August 2019). Super, beautiful, good, interesting – these are the adjectives appearing most often in mentions of the first season of the series. On the occasion of the second one, great joins them.
Popularity versus emotion – first season
The series was launched on Polish television on July 1. At first, not much was written about it, and the opinions of those who spoke out were often negative. The change was noticed only after a week or so, or after the first weekend, when one could relax longer in front of the screen – the number of statements published online gradually increased, and their overtone was favorable.
If we take a closer look at the emotions expressed by Polish internet users about the first season of Captive, we will see that they did not change much after the first week, when the series was just gaining popularity. The intensity of joy and trust is at its highest around July 18, while surprise is the strongest emotion after July 26, with anger and sadness also rising slightly.
Captive series – season two
The second season of Captive premiered on August 3, and the opinion of the general public about it was clear: as indicated by the words wonderful, beautiful, good, positive sentiment prevailed. Only after August 23 can we see an upward trend in the intensity of negative sentiment.
In contrast, agitation, very generally understood as the energy of mentions, did not fluctuate at all. The results of the sentiment analysis of mentions published during the viewing of the second season actually do not differ from those obtained after July 8. It was then that the tone of mentions of Captive was established.
We also see very similar results in the analysis of emotions. The feelings expressed by internet users do not change significantly until August 24, when we again notice a spike in surprise, anger and sadness and a drop in joy.
Keep the viewer satisfied but in suspense
Our results can be summed up in one sentence: the reactions of Internet users reflect the storytelling of the writers of Captive. The closer we get to the season finale, the greater the tension. The viewers become irritated with the characters, surprised by the turn of events, saddened by the fate of their favorites. The sudden twists of plot (received with surprise) may diminish the satisfaction of the series’ fans, but they will undoubtedly make them switch on the TV set or VOD as soon as the next episode comes out.
When writing about a series, film or other work of culture, internet users not only express their opinions, but also refer to the content of the watched productions. We mentioned this when we analyzed Chernobyl and Kleru. In the mentions of Captive, this means that, for example, the anger expressed by viewers can refer both to the characters of a beloved production and to the opinion that the series has broken down. In this case, however, comparing the changes in emotion as the available episodes arrive allows us to hazard a guess that we are dealing with changes tightly controlled by the creators through twists and turns strategically placed in successive episodes.
How do we know if our message is working and translating into popularity?
Serial, film and advertising all have something in common – they are meant to evoke an emotion and then a reaction. While the creators may be about different feelings, the reaction very often comes down to purchase. In case of a horror movie it’s about fear, in case of a comedy it’s about joy, and in case of a bank it’s about trust. We can measure it by monitoring subsequent stages of the purchase funnel… But how do we know what caused the lack of conversion between watching the ad and the “buy” button? Did the message break down, or did poorly implemented links not work?
We can measure the strength of a message primarily by what emotions it evokes and whether it translates into popularity. If no one is writing about our product, we know it won’t be easy to buy. And when we finally see a growing number of mentions, it’s time to ask what emotions they express. Is our horror movie funny or scary? And the series – is it gripping, or are viewers rather satisfied, but nothing motivates them to continue watching?
Emotion analysis is also useful when we have hard results at hand. In the case of Captive, they speak of growing viewership. Looking at emotions allows us to understand what makes the sales or the number of views change. Above all, it gives us an answer to the question of whether it is whisper marketing or perhaps the expert work of our scriptwriters.
