ARTIFACT AWARENESS

Artifact Awareness is a measure of how widely a media property has proliferated across social segments. Fans are always part of the question, but understanding how familiar the general public is with the property matters equally. High awareness properties might come with a lot of baggage while low awareness properties have a hard time distinguishing themselves from original ideas. It makes the "safe bet" of IP-based content almost too safe.

Artifact Awareness quantifies how saturated a property is across the general public. Low levels of awareness offer the opportunity to bring ‘hidden gems’ to light but also offer unreliable returns. A property with high awareness brings an audience and attention, but also increases expectations. The other risk with high awareness properties is oversaturation. Too much of a good thing holds true in media too. Combined with Artifact Valence and Medium Tethering, these extrinsic factors are harder for studios to control directly. You can take a high Lore Gravity property and change it completely if the Artifact Awareness is low enough. No one will remember about the original version when a global media entity releases their version to the world.

Artifact Awareness also considers the potential value of that audience: if the aware audience is one that regularly engages in the proposed IP development (ie. young men for a fantasy book being made into an action game) having a property that is already familiar to that audience makes it more valuable. This is a key metric of TAM estimations and gauges the purchase price of properties. Finding cheap titles that have hidden, powerful awareness is how to best mine content using this measure.

AWARENESS LEVELS

Artifact Awareness ranges from level 1 to 5, with 5 being the greatest awareness of the property. Artifact Awareness tends to grow over time and rarely shrinks. Artifact Valence and Affective Signature are two of the most important measure metrics in combination with Awareness. Keeping something niche (or feeling that way) can be essential to a property. More awareness isn’t always good despite traditional media logic.

LEVEL ONE – FAN AWARENESS

This property is largely limited to its fans and high-consumption media commentators. Its audience might be valuable in the original event’s context but offer limited transmedia potential. They might be off-putting or have a fan culture that values exclusivity. Typically reflects a very niche topic or style. New properties almost always begin here.

Example: Last Podcast on the Left is a household name for fans of true crime and the occult but relatively unknown outside those circles despite putting up impressive podcast numbers. The edgy personalities and elder Millennial male voices makes it powerful among fans but limited in its appeal outside the media dominated by that segment. That audience is valuable though: their book hit #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list and their comic runs sold out before they printed. More attention also brought controversy, leading to the departure of Ben Kissel and bringing Ed Larsen in as the new host.

LEVEL TWO – CATEGORY AWARENESS

This property is known by fans and broader audiences that regularly engage with the medium or specific content type/genre. It lacks an instant marketing boost but also signals a greater likelihood of buy-in from new audiences. 

Example: Little Fires Everywhere has outperformed the book it’s based on. Most viewers probably don’t even know the author’s name despite having become a darling among lit circles. Tapping the right star power to elevate its profile while moving to a medium demanding larger audiences was the right move from Hulu to make this show a success. 

LEVEL THREE – GENERAL AWARENESS

This property is familiar to most culturally engaged people or has a large, engaged fanbase. General audiences may not have directly engaged with the property before or know anything detailed about it, but they might recognize the name or know someone who enjoys it. 

Example: The Legend of Zelda franchise has global appeal but the average person probably doesn't know the main character is Link, not the eponymous princess. It’s a mainstay among gamers and a familiar title from people’s past when they were in its core demographics. 

LEVEL FOUR – INDUSTRY AWARENESS

This property is familiar to most people engaged with its medium of origin. It typically has a large, diverse fan base that drives extended cultural conversations around the piece and its place in the industry. These might be considered legacy properties or “classics” but have a limited global or cross-generational appeal.

Example: The Big Bang Theory captured over 18M viewers for its final episode. That’s a relatively small percentage of the total public but Sheldon Cooper’s character archetype has gone on to not only define the show itself but spin-offs, knock-offs, and homages in other series.

LEVEL FIVE – UNIVERSAL AWARENESS

This property lives across cultures and contexts. Its impact is generation shifting and extends beyond the IP’s medium-of-origin. These properties have reached memetic levels of saturation with their logos and characters recognizable around the world. There are few people who don’t know of the property, even if actual fans remain a small percentage of the population.

Example: Michael Jackson exists as a universal character, still shaping global culture long after his death. Whether people love him, hate him, or know his place in history, the cultural artifact that is “Michael Jackson” remains a living part of global media. It would be hard to find someone who doesn’t know his name.