Whether TV viewers are live-tweeting about their favorite show or the show itself is promoting a branded hashtag, there’s no denying that Twitter has become increasingly intertwined with television. And, as a result, measurement and information giant Nielsen has teamed up with Twitter to establish a social TV rating that will deliver “a syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation on Twitter.”
This new rating will complement Nielsen’s existing TV ratings, which will give networks and advertisers valuable, real-time metrics that will help them better understand TV audience social activity. After all, Twitter is a virtual treasure trove of information, and a site that Steve Hasker, president of Nielsen Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions, calls “a preeminent source of real-time television engagement data.” Stats from Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report show that the percentage of active Twitter users tweeting about TV has risen throughout 2012, reaching 33% in June (as pictured below).
And what’s more, active Twitter users send 1 billion tweets every 2.5 days, a volume of information that Nielsen calls “a necessity in producing standardized metrics representing online and mobile conversations about television.”
The new rating system will take effect in fall 2013 and will encompass both those participating in the Twitter conversation and those exposed to the activity. As a result, industry stakeholders will get a clear picture of the number of unique tweets associated with a given program, as well as rankings for the most social TV programs.
We’ve been fascinated by the continued integration of Twitter and television—and, yes, we completely admit to live-tweeting our favorite awards shows, sporting events and, in my case, anything and everything having to do with the WWE.
And the fact that Nielsen is prepared to gather this data in a way that will be helpful and meaningful to TV executives and advertisers shows that they’re tapped into the future of television, something that’s becoming an increasingly multi-screen experience.
We’re excited to see the subsequent reports that are published starting next fall—we expect they’ll be a data lover’s dream. What will be equally interesting is how marketers, executives and advertisers will use the data to create a more tailored experience for their viewing audience. After all, data doesn’t mean much if you don’t put it to work—and that’s a key step that’s often missed in the larger marketing and advertising equation.
What do you think of the Nielsen/Twitter partnership?
Lead image via HarshPatel;Photographer via Creative Commons
