There was the ubiquitous television and then came along social media which is on its way to become ubiquitous too. At the intersection where Television meets social media, the scene is vibrant, to say the least. Social TV is what you get at that intersection and it’s huge.
People like to talk about what they like and on Twitter, which only means a huge volume of tweets about their favorite television programs.
Twitter conversations in the U.S are a breathtaking phenomenon. According to Neilsen, 19 million people in the US composed 263 Tweets about Live TV in the second quarter of 2013. This number grows at 24% year-over-year and also contributes to a 38% increase in the total volume of Tweets.
Twitter also gives us the viral effect. If 3000 odd people are tweeting about a television program, at least 120,000 people are seeing those tweets. Of course, while these figures are only a representation and these numbers vary with actual programs, we are seeing the Social TV phenomenon in action. We didn’t even include Facebook and YouTube statistics here.
Social TV is Big
According to an infographic by Trendrr, more than 800 million social interactions around TV programs were measured in 2012. That’s a lot of chatter around television programs. If you consider all the conversations around these programs, the numbers would reach billions.
Television networks are not blind to this trend. NBC, for instance, was the most socially engaging network in 2012. ABC and Fox come next. SpongeBob SquarePants was the most social television show followed by The X Factor, The Voice, WWE Monday Night Raw, and Pretty Little Liars. Sports, reality, drama, comedy were the most engaging genres on television and iPhone was, by far, the most used mobile device for these engagements.
Social Media, the Savior
There are some things television ratings won’t tell you. Sometimes, it’s the ripple effect on social media that almost resurrects television programs. Consider Fringe (the popular Sci-Fi series): Fox television almost decided to pull it off due to its low ratings but that’s when hash tags saved the television series. On analysis, it was found that the program had an average of 40% fan retention (among 32 other shows) by the time the show reached its final season. The finale actually saw 60% of Twitter users conversing and sharing about the second-to-last episode.
Programs can now measure retention rates, the level of interest on any program, and have many other metrics to measure the popularity of shows on TV using social media as a measurement platform.
Twitter has a Thing for TV
Television shows and Twitter have a relationship that’s hard to ignore. Viewers of 85th Academy Awards, for instance, generated a whopping 8.9 million Oscar-related tweets.
Of course, many other shows have Twitter users tweeting relentlessly. No wonder then that Twitter has been toying with a TV trending feature, according to Samantha Murphy Kelly. Twitter already launched Nielsen Twitter TV ratings in 2013. In February 2013, Twitter also acquired BluefinLabs – a Social TV analytics firm.
Twitter and Trendrr: Match Made in Heaven
Twitter anyway is the best platform to watch events unfold. News, trends, and current information already spread on Twitter. Why should social TV not bite into the bun?
Following the launch of Trendrr’s new curation platform called Curatorr, which allows users to create real-time twitter experiences anywhere, it was accepted into the Twitter Certified Program. It was considered as an innovative way to display twitter content publicly.
Twitter’s acquisition of Trendrr keeps any Social TV analytics deals to get into the hands of other social networks, according to Mike Isaac of Allthingsdigital.com. Trendrr will allow Twitter to surface and explode with relevant tweets around events, TV programs, and engaging tele-events. The aim, according to Trendrr CEO Mark Ghuneim, is to allow media, marketers, and display partners to create compelling user experiences.
Twitter not only aims to make Trendrr acquisition work to create compelling content and allow for event breakouts but also help itself monetize these trends. With the roll out of Twitter ads, it’s only a matter of time before we see Twitter-style commercials or variations of the same. In fact, Twitter’s TV Ad targeting already rolled out in beta for US-based advertisers in May 2013. Twitter’s improved dashboard and analytics for advertisers is also a strong case to let advertisers know what users say about their ads.
Josh Constine of Techcrunch.com believes that Twitter can allow businesses to create better narratives, concepts, and interactive stories than traditional commercials. Twitter squarely hopes to be the ultimate destination for breaking news and discussions on real time events.
Twitter is on its way to make way for revenue. Its acquisition patterns and business decisions do put money at the crux of everything it does. For a long time, Twitter just had to wait on the boat without revenue and now it seems that it does have a direction to float towards.
How do you think Twitter’s acquisition of Trendrr affects Social TV? What else is going to come up from Twitter’s pavilion? How do you think Social TV will change the way we watch television? Your two cents are more than welcome.
Guest article written by: Jeff Davis is living in California and currently associated with Quick Laptop Cash – A place to [tp lang=”en” only=”y”]sell new laptops[/tp][tp not_in=”en”]sell new laptops[/tp] online. He has been into this field since last 6 years and responsible for troubleshoot issues; interact to discuss projects, technology solutions.