TV’s ‘Scandal’ Rules Social Media With 2,200 Tweets Per Minute, 5 Trending Topics

By ABS Contributor | Published on February 8, 2013

Scandal, Shonda Rhimes’ TV drama starring Kerry Washington as a D.C. political fixer, has taken over social media every Thursday this season, with the Jan. 31 episode generating more than 2,200 tweets a minute and five worldwide trending topics. The entire cast has contributed to the effort, live-tweeting during episodes using the #AskScandal hashtag and generating such story-driven tags as #WhoShotFitz and #WhatTheHuck.

“Everybody is super-involved and willing to do whatever it takes to make this show work,” Rhimes tells The Hollywood Reporter. “People heard about the show from other people — Oprah Winfrey heard about it from Twitter — and that got other people watching. That really helped us.”

The strategy is working: Original episodes of Scandal are averaging a 3.1 rating this season, up 19 percent in the key age 18-to-49 demographic, en route to overtaking CBS’ Elementary at 10 p.m. Thursdays. And the trajectory is upward: The Jan. 31 episode delivered its best retention of lead-in Grey’s Anatomy to date, holding 96 percent in the 18-to-49 metric as it threatens to surpass Rhimes’ longtime ratings champ…

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