Brief:
- "Days of Our Lives," the daytime drama series that has aired on NBC since 1965, introduced a mobile app to deepen its engagement with fans. The free DOOL app has games, sneak peaks, weekly recaps and breaking news from the set, among other features, according to an announcement.
- Corday Productions, which produces "Days of Our Lives," spend two years developing the app as its first push into digital media. Media Bridge Marketing helped the company create the app, which will feature fresh content every week.
- The app is free to download from Apple's App Store and Google Play. Fans also can visit TheDOOLApp.com for more details.
Insight:
As audiences shift their viewing to mobile devices, legacy shows like "Days of Our Lives" want to reach new viewers, engage with current fans and lure back former fans of the show, which celebrates its 52nd anniversary on Nov. 8. The DOOL app also gives its producer Corday a chance to control the conversation with fans who may have turned to social media platforms to engage with online communities that have grown around the long-running daytime drama. The Facebook page for the show has more than 1.4 million followers who can discover program updates and live events featuring cast members. The show's @NBCDays account on Twitter has 175,000 followers, and the new app is the latest mobile feature in the show's marketing arsenal to reach social-savvy fans.
"Days of Our Lives" is among the daytime shows that have apps, such as "General Hospital," "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful." Overall, the shows have seen long-term declines in viewership as more people are staying in the workforce longer and miss live daytime airings. The average age of daytime viewers has steadily risen, according to Soap Central, underscoring the importance of adopting mobile platforms to reach younger audiences.
Mobile platforms are hungry for content, with over-the-top services like Netflix spending billions of dollars on new programming every year. North America has more than 220 over-the-top video services like Netflix or Amazon Prime that bypass traditional cable or broadcast distribution. Smartphones were the dominant way to watch online video during Q2 2018 at 62%, up 9.8% from the second quarter last year, according to video platform Ooyala.
