Logo

Television Ratings Reboot: The Nielsen and Social Media Marriage

Television Ratings Reboot: The Nielsen and Social Media Marriage

Market analysis leader Nielsen has joined with the social media giants Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This has birthed the Nielsen’s Social Content Ratings (SCR).  This innovation that started in 2016 was the result of the huge impact that social media had created in the world. The impact is both making the world smaller and ensuring that content creators get an accurate perception of the impact of their content to consumers.

Nielsen began television marketing research in 1950 and is best known for collecting and reporting audience ratings of programs for media executives and advertisers. Nielsen’s traditional approach has been to analyze audience response to TV shows by electronic metering equipment installed in the homes of diverse television viewers.

But the explosion of social media, has changed the way audiences interact and respond to television programming.  The connect is instantaneous and effective.  

While home metering delivers a near-instantaneous information flow that Nielsen can analyze immediately for clients, it only monitors which program and commercials are playing in the home, not whether the viewer is watching content at that time. DVR technology and television streaming services effectively skip over advertising, (in most cases) and tiered channel availability has generated challenges in collecting complete audience preference data.

The foray into analyzing social media trends started with Twitter which has over 140 million users and has continued to have phenomenal global growth since its introduction in 2006. The social media powerhouse has vast numbers in the 18-34 and 35-49 age groups. Now with Facebook and Instagram, the dynamic is even stronger. The accurate truth about Television content is shared and shaped on Social Media. Nielsen Social Content Ratings give content creators the ability to monitor their content and eventually influence it.  NSCR captures both heavy Twitter usage among young adults and the demographic with the most disposable income.

Nielsen Social Content Ratings keep track of social activity whether for sport, series or special events. The precise performance of TV content is arrived at as they are the only rating company that uses Gracenote (also a Nielsen Company) TV data to fine tune their results. Nielsen also consolidates this data with data from over 65,000 official accounts that are associated with Television.

“Our users love the shared experience of watching television while engaging with other viewers and show talent. Twitter has become the world's digital water cooler, where conversations about TV happen in real time. Nielsen is who the networks rely on to give better content to viewers and clearer results to marketers,” said Chloe Sladden, Twitter’s vice president of media.

“The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has generated a substantial ‘connected’ TV audience that is simultaneously watching television and accessing the Internet through these devices,” said David F. Poltrack, Chief Research Officer of CBS.

The impact of the Nielsen’s Social Content Ratings (SCR) allows content creators to be able to assess the way that content can be optimized to work both with audiences and sponsors. The reach of the content can allow network executives to accurately estimate the worth of their programs and the opportunities that advertisers have with them.

Nielsen uses its new index to be able to audit a particular TV brand against other competitors. Social communications are harnessed into insights by Nielsen and SWOT analysis are done for the brand by Nielsen.

The key to the new rating system is SocialGuide, a company recently acquired by Nielsen and NM Incite. SocialGuide currently captures Twitter television activity for all U.S. programming across 234 TV channels in English and Spanish, and more than 36,000 programs. SocialGuide uses a complex classification system that matches Tweets to television programs. The important social measurements include the number of unique Tweets associated with a given program and rankings for programs with the most Twitter activity.

So, what does the introduction of real-time discussion of television shows by millions of social media viewers mean for the future of television programming? Several questions come to mind:

  • Will networks and program executives need to make room in their budgets for an active Social Media presence to interact with users about their programs?
  • Will stars of the shows also be required in their contracts to interact socially with fans?
  • Since social media is global, is there any future in local viewing audience demographics? Or should advertisers sponsor programs with a broader reach?
  • Should television programs incorporate social media into their program content?

We would love to hear your feedback in the comments below.  What do YOU think about the future of television programming, it’s success, and the connection between social media and viewers? 

Be sure to leave your social handles so we can follow you and be sure to visit our social pages and follow us directly.  We look forward to connecting with you! vm.

Comments

No comments yet

Leave your comments

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.