A couple nights ago, my RA was doing her door-to-door checkups when she came across my roommate and I discussing the BAFTAs (aka the British Academy of Film and Television Awards). We were talking about the typical stuff such as who was there and who we think had won when my RA interrupted and asked puzzledly, “The BA-who?”
For her, she hadn’t heard of the BAFTAs and didn’t know what they were. Even when I explained what the acronym stood for, she still didn’t understand. Eventually, I referred to them as the ‘British’ Oscars.
Although this explanation gave my RA a better grasp on what the ceremony was, it led me to wonder just how popular the BAFTAs were in the U.S. To be honest, the only reason why I knew about the ceremony was because some of my favorite celebrities, Prince William and Kate Middleton, advertised it on Twitter. Does social media always attract the BAFTAs’ viewers?
To find my answer, I first had to watch their most recent show which were the British Academy Film Awards.
The British Academy Film Awards were held on February 10, 2019 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK. The show featured notable (and nominated) actors like A Star Is Born’s Bradley Cooper, Black Panther’s Letitia Wright, The Queen of Scots and Suicide Squad’s Margot Robbie, and many more. Some of the film industry’s biggest winners were movies such as The Favourite and Roma which together won 10 BAFTAs.
The awards were televised on the British network BBC One, but for North Americans, it was on the American network, BBC America. Although having them broadcasted on BBC America was a great tactic to bring in an American audience, not that many people have access to that channel. This led the BAFTAs in recent years to heavily rely on social media platforms to advertise their show.
According to BAFTAs’ 2017 annual report, they create awareness by paying and partnering with Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter to increase social engagement. This includes streaming live footage from the event along with hashtagging #BAFTAs or #EEBAFTAs. I have to say this strategy is smart since according to Edison Research, about 80 percent of North Americans had an online presence by 2017.
Thanks to BAFTAs’ tactics and others, their 2017 online engagement totaled in 104,509,190 people. These engagements also include visits to BAFTAs’ website, organic visits on Facebook, and organic impressions on Twitter. This was an increase of 96 million from 2016.
Another strategy the BAFTAs use is posting videos from their shows on to YouTube. Currently, their most popular video from the British Academy Film Awards is Dev Patel’s Supporting Actor acceptance speech for 2016’s Lion. It has about 820,000 views.
The BAFTAs are killing their social media marketing and I hope by then end of 2019, they gain an even a bigger audience.
Have you watched the BAFTAs this year? What do you think of their marketing strategies?
Let me know in the comments!
⎼ Aliyah Harris
Sources: Bafta.org
IMC Hawks Blog 
Hey Aliyah!
First off, you’re an awesome roommate. And I loved watching the show with you!
Anyway, your meme is hilarious! I totally understand why our RA had never heard of it because I hadn’t either. I think I saw a post about Letitia Wright’s acceptance speech and that’s the only time I’ve ever heard of the show. I wonder if they target an older audience and that’s why I’ve never heard of it? I think it’s smart for them to use their social media presence to get more viewers. Your research about their growth over the years was super interesting! I wonder if the BAFTAs are any indication to who will win big at the Oscars? Anyway, great post about the show and their marketing tactics.
Hi Brittany! I think you may be on to something with the BAFTAs targeting an older audience. I believe that for television viewing that is certainly what they are trying to do. Hence, why they also may have switched to promoting the show on social media platforms. They probably not only did it to gain a foreign demographic but younger one as well. Thanks for your comment!
I honestly had no idea what the ” BAFTAs” were until this post. I personally do not enjoy award shows, long and predictable is how I see it. But, very interesting that you are so knowledgable about these awards aka the British Oscars.
Thanks for the comment, Sydney! You are definitely not the only one who doesn’t know the BAFTAs. Like it is mentioned in the post, the only way a person could know about them is either through the BBC America TV channel (which not many Americans have) or if the person also has a heavy social media presence.
Hi Brittany,
I am an International student and when I read your post first, I felt stupid that I didn’t know what the BAFTA’s were. I googled it and looked it up on social media before reading further. Then you explained that it is a thing in the USA, so I guess that is the reason that I didn’t know it. I also think social media is the new market to advertise. Since I am here without a TV, I never watch television. So I don’t see the ‘norma’ advertisements anymore. I only see the advertising on social media. When a celebrity post about her clothes, make-up or about an event like this. It is a great way to advertise because I start looking at it because of their post.
Hi Aliyah!
I am an International student and when I read your post first, I felt stupid that I didn’t know what the BAFTA’s were. I googled it and looked it up on social media before reading further. Then you explained that it is a thing in the USA, so I guess that is the reason that I didn’t know it. I also think social media is the new market to advertise. Since I am here without a TV, I never watch television. So I don’t see the ‘norma’ advertisements anymore. I only see the advertising on social media. When a celebrity post about her clothes, make-up or about an event like this. It is a great way to advertise because I start looking at it because of their post.
Hi Myrthe! I agree with what you said about social media being the new advertising market! The BAFTAs are mainly popular in the UK but it is gaining more reception in the US due to their advertisements on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Also, it is awesome that you did some research on the BAFTAs while reading this post!
Hi Aliyah,
I have to admit I had no clue what the BAFTA’s were when I first started reading your post but when you mentioned that Prince William and Kate Middleton were supporters of the show I was intrigued. Like many other viewers, my attention is captured when someone I am a fan of promotes something. The BAFTAs seem to have this tactic down because they have people to promote and spread the word about the awards show. I think their marketing strategies are spot on for the current time period we are in. Social media is where most people seem to live these days and it can reach a wide audience that other places may not reach. By using clips from the show also in their advertisements it gives their audience a glimpse of what to expect and intrigues people to want to watch the past and future shows. I will definitely be searching more about this show and might end up adding it to my yearly list of awards shows I watch.
Blair, I enjoyed your comment! The BAFTAs are smart because like you said, their social media and celebrity promotions are what is bringing in their audience. For many other award shows and companies, this is also the case as well.
Hi, Aliyah!
As someone who is a bit of a film nerd, I can say that I do know what the BAFTAs are and have enjoyed watching the winners roll in, which is a bit of a pre-Oscar prediction game for me. But, as you said, the amount of Americans who know about the BAFTAs or, much less, watch the BAFTAs is extremely slim. However, I completely agree with you that they are really killing it with the marketing these days! For the first time this year, I actually saw people on my Twitter timeline talking about the BAFTAs – that is huge. Through that alone, I can tell that their name is really being picked up over here and it’s very impressive. By no means is it as big as the Oscars or even the SAG awards, but it is definitely moving up in the line and I am loving it! Great article!
Keeley, thank you for commenting! Also, it is great to know that people on your timeline were talking about the BAFTAs! Them tweeting also helps the BAFTAs get more reception especially if they were using the hashtags. This allows other people to be aware of the show and to *hopefully* tune in.
I only came across the BAFTAS this year because Rami Malek won best leading actor! I honestly had never heard of the awards show before then, and ended up watching most of it after-the-fact through YouTube videos! So there you go, their social media presence IS helping! Thanks for dredging up those statistics. It’s really impressive the leaps in viewership they are gaining by utilizing social media as an advertisement and viewership opportunity!
Hi Aliyah!
I personally have heard of the BAFTA’s before, but for someone who might not follow the film industry as closely as I do, it wouldn’t be a big shock to find out not that many people know about it. I think that it might have to do with the marketing of the event- like you said a lot of people don’t have access to BBC America, but I think the BAFTA’s are important enough to advertise like we do the Oscars, especially since the BAFTA’s have a great reputation, while the Oscars are iffy sometimes (Green Book over Roma?!?). It’s interesting to look at how they’re incredibly popular outside of the US, while they still celebrate American films, such as Black Panther or Vice, while they’re not extremely popular in the US.
I had no clue what these awards were until after I read your post, and wow what a great post! You are a great roommate and seem to be a great friend too! Social media does play one of, if not the biggest roles on getting the word out to the public now a days. Especially the use of hashtags, one word can be linked to so many pictures on social media, it’s like getting on a wave and it just gets bigger and bigger.
Aliyah,
This is such a great post! I love British and European television, I sometimes could argue that its better than American television. I watch shows like Love Island and I honestly didn’t know what the BAFTA’s were until I saw the cast of Love Island posting things about watching them. I keep up with British music awards and things like that, because some of my favorite bands are from the UK. I think it would be great if more American viewers tuned into shows like this, cause it shows how other countries celebrate some American works.
Before reading this all I knew of the BAFTAs was that they existed. I’ve never watched them, and I didn’t notice any BAFTAs ads on any of my social media. Their marketing strategies are interesting but I wonder how they’re going to expand their reach. I didn’t realize they had so many popular actors attend the awards. Maybe I’ll watch next year!
Hey Aliyah,
I agree that the BAFTAs have never gotten the coverage they deserved. I stumbled upon the BAFTAs a few years ago when I was Doctor Who and saw it was nominated. I also saw when my favorite actor Tom Holland won for best young actor. It is a great awards show that needs to be recognized. I would say in my own opinion it is better than the oscars because there is more diversity in the categories. They look at all kinds of media and film and have more varied categories. I hope that more people become recognized about and start to watch it. It is one of the best events to watch on television.
Like your RA I had never heard of BAFTA. Many others, including myself, are oblivious to large events that happen outside the U.S. BAFTA seems like the U.K version of the Oscars. Although smaller in scale now, it looks like its growing in popularity. This was a very interesting article and with more use of social media the BAFTAs will only get better.
Hey Aliyah!
It’s always so fascinating to see how much social media impacts the entertainment industry. Just last week I found out that the Oscars are heavily influenced by social media campaigns and this was demonstrated through an online feud between the Incredibles 2 and Spiderman into the Spiderverse. They both flooded twitter and instagram with accolades to attempt to boost their standings with the committee. This of course got fans on social media too. Social media can either make or break a film or television program.