While films like "The Big Short" and "Wolf Of Wall Street" have helped popularize finance terms like bull and bear market, many in the general public throw them around without truly knowing what they mean.
One survey of people on the street found that seven out of every 10 polled were unable to define hedge fund while eight out of 10 drew a blank when asked what a bond was.
DON'T MISS: Here Are the Money Questions People Google Most (And the Answers to Them)
Since its premiere in 2018, Warner Bros (WBD)-owned HBO show "Succession" has become the latest hit to take viewers inside the world of billion-dollar deals and investment bankers. The Roy children's fight to take over the Roystar-Wayco entertainment conglomerate from their aging father has sent many viewers to Google (GOOGL) for the definition of terms like ETF and IPO.
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The Show 'Succession' Is Fueling An Interest In Finance
According to a list put together by trading platform comparison site InvestinGoal, exchange traded fund (ETF) was the single most-common finance terms that people Googled together with the word "Succession" — on average, internet users searched for it 103,000 times a month.
The term is used to describe a combined investment fund of stocks, commodities and bonds that is generally a safer investment than any one stock.
Other popular search pairings with "Succession" include initial public offering (IPO), or the first time a private company's shares hit the public market. This term trailed close behind ETF with 95,000 average monthly searches.
"Companies often issue an IPO to raise capital to fund growth initiatives, raise their public profile, or to pay off debts," write the study's authors.
Basic finance terms such as "broker" and "bull market" vs. "bear market" also made the list while even an obvious term like "tanking" is still searched for 2,400 times a month on average.
"Dead cat bounce," or a short-lived recovery of share prices caused by short sellers predicting an increase, was used in a New York Times analysis of a Season 3 episode to describe both Logan Roy's fear of a literal dead cat under his seat and expectations around a looming shareholders' meeting.
"Whilst this doesn't necessarily happen in Succession to the Waystar Royco corporation and it's respective stock, there have been moments within the show where this was feared, particularly during the cruise fiasco that saw talks take place over which member of the 'inner circle' would take the fall and potentially risk time in prison," writes InvestinGoal.
The term is Googled, on average, 3,200 times a month. By contrast, more than two million viewers tuned in to watch the fourth season's first episode.
Other less well-known terms that sent viewers to Google include "to the moon," which is used to describe an asset that is constantly growing, and "arbitrage" — buying in one market and then quickly moving to sell in another.
"Whales," or powerful investors that influence the market, was also a more insider-y term that sent viewers to the internet with 1,800 average monthly searches.
"In 'Succession,' Lukas Matsson could be considered a 'whale,' a position that he evidently knows and manipulates, sending controversial tweets at crucial moments during business proceedings that can wildly affect the market," the report's authors write.
