Product Nerdistry: Lessons from the Downfall of Vanderpump Rules
I’ve watched Vanderpump Rules religiously, continuously, and consistently for the past 11 years, and I announce this proudly and openly. Vanderpump Rules is a cultural juggernaut, an innovative and culturally significant TV show filled with interesting characters, fascinating relationship dynamics, and world building on an entirely different level than what had been seen previously. More importantly, it’s always been a low stakes way of shutting my brain off. I know many smart, capable, strong young women who grew up watching Vanderpump Rules, and we were a small (but mighty!) fandom.
Then the world changed (and I’m not being dramatic here!) last year when Vanderpump Rules hit the mainstream amidst the nuclear apocalypse fallout called “Scandoval”. I could go into what Scandoval entailed, but there’s been many explainer articles written on the background, what happened, and bringing the general public up to speed. It even ended up in The New York Times…
I’ve been watching the past season with great interest and a growing sense of dread. What the fan base, both new and long-suffering, thought we’d be getting was an uplifting tale of a woman (Ariana Madix) triumphing over the fallout and betrayal that was Scandoval. We thought this, because Ariana blew up in the media, became an extremely popular cultural influencer, and landed loads of gigs and campaigns that allowed her fans (and the wider Vanderpump Rules fanbase) to support her, lift her up, and share in her success. All evidence pointed to the show mirroring the positive societal shifts and patterns of the past 5 years.
The #metoo movement, the rise of fourth-wave feminism, and diverse individuals emerging as financial leaders should have meant fans watched the latest Vanderpump Rules season saw well-deserved empowerment expressed through the storyline of Ariana Madix. We should have seen bad men held accountable, women supporting other women, and a woman finally being celebrated for being powerful, overcoming struggle and pain, and being empowered to live her life unapologetically.
And therein lies the rub… because that isn’t what we saw in the latest season, much to our disappointment, and in that disappointment we can learn some lessons as Product professionals.
We’re all just so disappointed.
Disparity between audience expectations’ and producers’ assumptions
We’ve learned, through interviews and podcast episodes with some of the cast members, that the producers significantly misunderstood what viewers of the show wanted from the latest season of Vanderpump Rules, and there are some good theories on why that is.
Shifting audience attitudes - the die-hard fanbase, over the past 11 years, were used to the badly behaving men on Vanderpump Rules getting “redemption tours” at the expense and detriment of their partners. As I mentioned above, the audience’s attitudes towards that behaviour has changed over the past 5 years, and allowing badly behaved men to get away with that behaviour is no longer accepted or welcomed.
Lesson learned: User behaviour shifts, always and often. Constantly polling them (through quantitative and qualitative data and feedback) to understanding their shifting needs is key to commercially minded product strategies and roadmaps. Don’t assume you know what your users want because it’s what they’ve always wanted.
Forgetting their core audience - the producers of Vanderpump Rules believed they could do no wrong. Vanderpump Rules numbers were exploding after Scandoval, and although the show before Scandoval was on its way to a quick and quiet death, the producers forgot their core audience. Their “power users”, as it were. They failed to realise that the core audience loved Ariana, supported Ariana, and had tired of bad men not being held accountable.
Lesson learned: Growth means an influx of new users, but don’t forget your power users or the users who have been with you for a long time. Make sure you maintain and protect your Product’s core values, and ensure you’re tracking how any changes affect your main user base. Don’t get distracted by “edge cases” or “growth” pressures.
Audience alienation: the downfall of successful shows (or companies)
We don’t yet know the fallout of this season’s Vanderpump Rules producers miscalculations, and we won’t really know until the numbers for next season start being reported, but based on fan reactions to the latest season on many commentary websites like Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, the core audience of VPR has become disillusioned, and that does not bode well for the show’s continuation.
We also suspect that Ariana and Katie, the fan favourites of Vanderpump Rules, are most unlikely to return, and the rest of the cast is not popular enough to maintain fan interest going forward. A Product Development comparison can be made here, and the lesson being to not lose the elements that made your website, app, product popular in the first place.
Product professionals have always been told to “be the voice of the user” within the company. We can learn from Vanderpump Rules that having a point person in a company who knows the users intimately, respects and understands them, and ensures that their voices, feedback, and needs are catered for, will ultimately lead to a Product that sells, retains, and attracts users.
Don’t let your product become the next Vanderpump Rules. Know and love your users, first and always!
