When it comes to TV show recommendations, new research suggests that Americans are almost twice as likely to trust random social media users over professional critics.While investigating the recommendation pop-culture habits of 2,000 respondents, a recent poll discovered that only 9% say they regularly turn to critics for advice on what to watch, read, or play.Instead, respondents cited close friends (47%), family members (44%), streaming platform algorithms (21%), and even "social media users" (18%) before critics.
And while five out of every six people will explore other peoples' reviews online, more of them turn to user-driven spaces like YouTube (50%) and Amazon (46%) over established review aggregators, such as Rotten Tomatoes (24%) or Metacritic (6%).The survey, which was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Element Electronics, also found that just under seven in 10 people (68%) will check out a new title within a few weeks of it being recommended — and at least one in ten (11%) will do it as soon as possible.
