‘Medium’ Well Done: TLC uses Twitter to drive premiere chatter

Even Theresa Caputo (@theresacaputo) might not have been able to predict this.

The Oct. 6 season premiere of the medium’s TLC show, Long Island Medium, featuring live segments of Caputo picking Twitter users to win a free reading, was the most-watched and most-tweeted TV program in cable primetime (excluding sports) that night.

The episode drew 2.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and more than 785,000 Tweets about the show were seen 24.5 million times, according to SocialGuide’s Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings. Here is what Long Island Medium did to make Oct. 6 TLC’s best social media night ever.

TLC and Caputo promoted the TLC “Tweet to Win Live Sweepstakes” on Twitter throughout the day, as the network aired reruns of the show before the premiere episode.

In fact, 13 of the 15 most-tweeted shows that day, including sports, were episodes of Long Island Medium, according to SocialGuide rankings.

TLC also ran this promo on air leading up to the premiere.

The contest was simple: Between 9 p.m., when the show premiered, and 11 p.m., anyone following @TLC on Twitter could win an all-expense-paid trip for two to meet Caputo for a private reading by sending a Tweet with the hashtag #LongIslandMedium.

Caputo randomly selected and announced four winners on air during commercial breaks — three during her show and one more during the premiere of Alaskan Women Looking for Love the following hour.

They were notified via Twitter direct messages. TLC also showcased dozens of fans’ Tweets during the live segments.

In all, the hashtag #LongIslandMedium was used more than 621,000 times that day, according to SocialGuide. The Twitter buzz around the show even had non-fans intrigued.

A big hit for TLC on TV and Twitter.

Do you know of other innovative uses of Twitter? Email us at [email protected].