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US steps up Social TV ratings

Nielsen ratings are now reporting watercooler talk about TV shows on Twitter as an additional performance measure.

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2013-10-08_1431We’ve known for some time that top trending Twitter topics don’t necessarily relate to OzTAM ratings.

But the value of shows performing in social media can’t be discounted, as a way of creating brand awareness

It’s a similar disconnect in the US.

On Monday the company announced their first Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings, a product announced last year that professes to measure all the activity and reach of Twitter conversation about shows, even if it has yet to be embraced by television executives and gain a broad client base.

The Nielsen Twitter TV ratings US top 5 for the last week of September were:
1. Breaking Bad (AMC)
2. The Voice (NBC)
3. Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
4. Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
5. SEC Storied (ESPN)

It’s impossible to know how many of Twitter users watched the show as a result of the posts, but previous research has found that social media activity sometimes spurs viewership.

During the week of Sept. 23, for example, the finale of Breaking Bad ranked No. 1 in the Twitter TV Ratings, with 1.2 million posts that reached 9.3 million Twitter accounts, according to Nielsen. Two episodes of NBC’s The Voice also rank Anatomyed in the top 10, reaching 3.8 million and then 2.7 million accounts.

In Australia shows like Big Brother, The X Factor and Q & A are all regular performers amongst Twitter, while Facebook draws even more conversation.

Source: NY Times

8 Responses

  2. @goffy – reliable for whom? I look at the Top 20 list and its like a snap-shot of what my parents, aged over 60, watch

    I work in an office of thousands, on a floor with close to 200 hundred people. In any given month I can talk to half of those people and over-heard convserations with most others, and I can tell you that they shows these people I work with watch are not reflected accurately in the Top 20 list

    Just worth noting there are no over 55’s where I work, age group between 22-55. I would believe if a program is trending on twitter or getting views on facebook then it is indeed rating better than whats on at an OZtam household

    When a bulk of the people I work with (and yes, if I was to use the method of gathering statistics then almost all groups are relfected: mothers, single parents, single male with disposable income, young couples, young couples with young children,…

  3. Great…now we will see even more whoring by TV shows to try and get twitter and facebook clicks and follows. Yes I know they exist, you don’t have to tell me every two minutes!!

  4. Just because the shows you watch aren’t what is most popular doesn’t mean the information is wrong.

    If you understand the statistics behind it, the ratings make sense and are reliable. Remember there is a huge watching bloc who wouldn’t use the internet or Twitter to talk about a certain show, so judging by any other method would be a backwards step.

    Billy, that’s what it used to be like. People sending in a book with the shows pencilled in, was very dodgy…

  5. Perhaps David could start an alternative ratings service. We could register and tick each show we watched every week from a grid. Share it round social media / twitter and see if we can get enough people to join up. It would be interesting to see if the results were significantly different to Oztam.

  6. I want to help the ratings of a show by watching it locally whenever I can, but I do not have any actual effect. I could download every show, share it amongst every one of my friends, and make it available to thousands of viewers overseas, and it wouldn’t affect the ratings because none of the people who’d watch via this method have an OzTAM Box.

  7. I agree with DansDans, it seems that the handful of people who have the little black box under their televisions are consistently watching Ch7 or the Footy Show! In this day and age there must be a better way to be able to measure audiences to give a more complete picture of the viewing habits the entire Australian population!

  8. Yet a handful of idiots with a black box under their TV, which seems to be firmly stuck on Ch 7, seem to be dictating the ratings race in Australia

    Its time this whole OZtam thing is abandoned

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