Context

The long-awaited fan service, brimming with an abundance of warm memories, Lisa Kudrow’s magical “My eyes, my eyes!” and revelatory details about Ross and Rachel finally aired. The on-screen reunion of Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer or the fan-favorite characters Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, and Ross was a treat for the die-hard Friends lovers.

The unscripted 104-minute-long reunion ultimately made it on HBO Max and ZEE5 after being announced initially more than a year ago, which got delayed due to the pandemic. Moreover, the reunion also starred K-Pop group BTS, American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and soccer star David Beckham. The trailer for the reunion special made fans reminisce their favorite moments from the legendary sitcom.
To decode the unstated emotions audiences underwent while watching the trailer, Entropik used its Emotion AI platform, Affect Lab. The 130-second-long trailer from the streaming giant HBO Max was well received by viewers and garnered over 3.5 million views on YouTube within few hours from its release.

We reached out to people of all walks of life to watch the trailer, where we recorded their micro-expressions from their webcam. After analyzing the respondents facial expressions, and eye movements, we concluded that the most dominant emotions portrayed by the respondents were negative and got to 9.46 due to the nostalgia kicking in. The overall positive emotions remained at 6.18.

Entropik’s deep dive into audiences’ emotions unveiled an exciting insight- the intensity of negative emotions was higher than the positive emotions as most viewers emoted sadness, which stemmed from nostalgia.

What’s more, the bittersweet nostalgia quotient rises even more in the trailer’s second half when short clips from the sitcom play. Affect Lab recorded the respondents’ attention level at 65.27 for the trailer, which is excellent and fares better than most ads/trailers.

However, based on the industry standards and other creatives we test, every ad typically garners some negative emotions. No viewer is happy every second of the video. To read the data thoroughly and more accurately, let us look at the overall journey with the valleys and peaks of audience emotions throughout the trailer.

According to Entropik’s emotion-rich report, there was a dip in engagement level after the 46th second where the characters were talking about the casting and the first time they met each other. This dip from 39 points to 28 points can also be attributed to when a passive acoustic piece replaces the original soundtrack.

The engagement levels were back up when the friends enact a famous scene from one of the many iconic episodes. The engagement did not dip after that as several clips from the sitcom appeared.

As viewers were elated to see their favorite stars reuniting for one last gig, we also asked them a few questions post the trailer and interestingly found out that 25% of viewers could relate to Joey (25%) the most and saw themselves in him.

Besides, Rachel and Phoebe, with 48% nods, were the top choices for being the viewers’ best friends if given a chance!

Our post-survey questions also reveal that most viewers will binge FRIENDS again, and the rest were excited to watch the reunion special.
“Yes, I loved seeing the cast reminisce about being on the show,” says a respondent while sharing his experience after watching Friends: The REUNION

Several respondents were looking forward to catching the reunion episode soon and were even more geared up to watch it after the trailer dropped. “No, but I plan on watching it right away after seeing this trailer,” says one of the respondents during Entropik’s post survey.
“Not yet. But my husband did, and he keeps encouraging me to do so. I will as soon as I get a second to sit down and do it,” said one respondent when asked if they had watched the special yet.
Various respondents were extremely nostalgic and recollected the good-old school/college days in the 90s, while others grasped the tissues!

“I very much enjoyed the reunion special. It had laughs, tears, memories; it had it all,” expressed another respondent while narrating their experiences after watching the Friends Reunion on 21st May 2021.

Last Few Lines

The trailer manages a decent Affect Lab and engagement score of 45.86 and 32.68, respectively. To sum up, the trailer created excitement and engaged the audience well. We also observed that viewers particularly liked the characters sharing their personal experiences and enacting popular scenes. Thus, showcasing more of such snippets in the trailer could have generated added interest and involvement.
Entropik deploys its proprietary Emotion AI Facial Coding and Eye-Tracking technologies to interpret consumer engagement, positive and negative emotions, and attention levels, and other responses into actionable metrics for brands.

With an in-depth analysis of viewers’ subconscious, Emotion AI solutions like Affect Lab bridge the gap between audiences innate and involuntary emotions and overt reactions. They can help brands create more binge-worthy, gripping, emotionally resonating, and provocative trailer content.

If you liked our deep dive into the FRIENDS reunion trailer, stay tuned to Entropik’s blog space for more OTT trailer reviews based on Affect Lab’s Emotion-driven Media Insights.

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