We are in for an interesting media situation with the upcoming release of the final Harry Potter book.
How will the millions of readers who are looking forward to the conclusion avoid finding out from the media or big-mouth friends and family members? This is unprecedented. Never before has a book with such an avid fan base been released in a 24/7 all-media culture. Recently, when the Sopranos ended, viewers all saw it at once; the only difference was the time zones, or a couple of hours. And it only takes an hour to watch the show. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is a 784-page book, which would take some time to get through. And no novel has ever had the type of following that the Harry Potter books enjoy.
More than 1 in 4 U.S. teens and adults have read one of the books, and 15 percent have read them all. Thus, the media will be tempted -- perhaps forced -- to cover the conclusion. The Sopranos ending made the cover of our local newspaper and was hot news nationwide; the news of the ending transcended the viewership of the show itself.
And as much as I love the Sopranos, Harry Potter has a much larger audience, who are heavily invested in his fate. In our world of round-the-clock media, how can a reader avoid being exposed to “spoilers”? That doesn’t seem possible. The situation poses a very Interesting media dilemma, and it should be fun to see how it plays out.
Steve Cebalt of Bottom Line Public Relations is Founder of the Social Marketing Leadership Roundtable in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He specializes in marketing, advertising and public relations issues of interest to nonprofit communications professionals. http://www.bottomlinepr.com/
http://www.nonprofitprforum.blogspot.com/
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