ideaBOOST Case Studies: Focus Group – AsapSCIENCE

Focus Groups

Author: Zan Chandler

Lead facilitator: Mitch Moffit

Overview:

AsapSCIENCE

AsapSCIENCE is an educational and entertaining resource for curious minds of all ages to understand the science in their own lives. It uses engaging aesthetics and relatable topics to capture the imagination of its viewers, and create an online community of scientific curiosity, questioning, and learning. While primarily through online video, AsapSCIENCE engages and entertains through social media, written literature, and web-based content. Overall, AsapSCIENCE provides an alternative to traditional learning in science by focusing on quirky, real-life scenarios that people can learn through.

From the fall 2012 until spring 2013, AsapSCIENCE was one of seven teams to participate in the CFC Media Lab’s digital entertainment accelerator, ideaBOOST. The program employs the best practices from tech’s lean startup movement and other disciplines. The program’s goal is to help companies navigate the entertainment and technology startup market, sharpen their product vision, and refine their strategies to target audiences and generate sustainable revenues. As part of this program, the teams were exposed to a number of participatory design techniques. Each team made use of several techniques in order to further the development of their projects.

Method:

The AsapSCIENCE team adapted the traditional Focus Group method and conducted an online Question & Answer session via Google Hangout. AsapSCIENCE was an established concept, with a large following, when it entered the ideaBOOST program. As a result, this adapted Focus Group served to support the Evaluation phase of the innovation process.

Participants:

Participants in the Focus Group were existing fans of AsapSCIENCE, and included subscribers to their YouTube channel, Twitter followers, and Facebook page fans.

Supportive methods:

In conjunction with the Focus Group, the AsapSCIENCE team also conducted a Survey.

Goals:

A key question on the mind of AsapSCIENCE team revolved around their audience’s comfort with the integration of advertising and sponsorship. As they already had a broad and committed fan base they did not want to risk offending their fans by introducing revenue generation in a way that was too intrusive to the experience. They needed to understand how their fans would react to the ways in which both advertising and sponsorship were being brought into the mix. As AsapSCIENCE lives online, and fans exist around the globe, an adaptation of the method, held online would enable the team to gather feedback from a large group of their fans and circumvent the impracticality of bringing fans together for an in person Focus Group.

Process summary:

The team announced across all their distribution and engagement platforms that they would be holding an online Q & A session on January 19, 2013 using Google Hangout. On the morning of the Q & A, they announced they were also releasing a survey online. Fans were asked to complete the survey and participate in the Q & A by posing questions on the Hangout, on Facebook or on Twitter. The Hangout lasted approximately 60 minutes, during which time the team fielded questions about AsapSCIENCE’s genesis, its host and creators, and solicited suggestions for future videos.

Images or diagrams:

 AsapSCIENCE Online Focus Group

The survey that AsapSCIENCE’s team launched in conjunction with the online Focus Group on Google Hangout.

Results:

In addition to receiving a very strong response to the survey, over 800 responses in a short period of time, the AsapSCIENCE team also had a very large fan turn out to the Q & A. The team learned that fans were happy with the frequency of their video postings (~once a week), and were open to AsapSCIENCE making use of advertising as long as it wasn’t too intrusive.

Outcomes:

They also learned that fans responded really well to seeing Mitch, the narrator, on screen. Until that point, they’d only heard his voice and seen his hands during the animations.

 

ideaBOOST is the CFC Media Lab’s accelerator that emphasizes Audience Engagement for entertainment platform development. This case study was prepared for the ASTOUND initiative, a partnership between the CFC, HotDocs, and OCAD University.