If you watched the Emmy’s over two weeks ago, the bulk of the awards were centered around the most watched...
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If you didn’t think Twitter was serious about getting involved in social analytics, think again. Twitter is acquiring Bluefin Labs...
Read ArticleAmericans have certainly embraced televisions, smartphones and the Internet, as 119 million households have four or more TV sets, 212 million Internet users are active online and more than half of households now own a smartphone, according to Nielsen’s new U.S. Consumer Usage Report 2012.
One of the big drivers of Internet and smartphone usage has been social media. Social media continues to increase across all platforms with 164 million users on the computer, 85 million using a smartphone app, and 81 million using a mobile web browser.
When I worked as a social media analyst, I saw first hand what media and entertainment companies want when it comes to social TV metrics. Of course, they wanted to know the general sentiment of conversation (e.g. positive, negative, neutral) and volume of conversation about a show, but they also wanted to understand the reactions of the audience to particular episodes, characters/cast, and even scenes. And if you ask me, understanding the reactions of people on social is really the most interesting aspect of it all.
This is why I think the announcement of Twitter and Nielsen partnering in an effort to establish a standard for social TV ratings and metrics is so interesting. The rating service, which will be available in the fall of 2013 is supposed to complement Nielsen’s existing TV ratings, and will be built on top of the SocialGuide platform offered by NM Incite. Unfortunately, I don’t think Twitter and Nielsen hit the nail on the head here, at least not yet.
I just saw an article on MSNBC’s tech blog which reports the findings of a survey conducted by Nielsen that states Hulu users watch more TV than Netflix users. My reaction? Seriously? That’s a surprise to you? Did they expect to find different results? Honestly, if the results were reversed then it would be interesting and worth reporting on. Let me explain.
The survey was conducted in March 2011 and consisted of more than 12,000 online interviews that focused on usage and attitudes towards Hulu and Netflix. It found that 73% of Hulu users watch TV shows while only 11% of Netflix users watch TV shows. Now, Hulu is primarily for TV shows, in fact, last I checked its movies section was pretty terrible. The whole point of Hulu (Plus) is get access to TV shows and faster releases for show episodes that just aired and that are currently “in season.” Meanwhile, the original idea (and still its main purpose) behind Netflix is to offer access to movies and TV show seasons that have already passed.
