Twitter confirms Bluefin acquisition talk
The companies say that the acquisition builds on Twitter’s earlier agreement to work with Nielsen to create a new social TV ratings system based on Nielsen’s SocialGuide platform.
Ali Rowghani, Twitter’s chief operating officer, said: “We plan to collaborate closely with Nielsen and SocialGuide on product development and research to help brands, agencies and networks fully understand the combined value of Twitter and TV.”
Indeed, Twitter appears to be at the heart of the social TV phenomenon. According to Bluefin, “about 95% of public real-time engagement with TV” happens on Twitter.
During last weekend’s Super Bowl, 26.1m tweets were generated by 5.3m people. When a mid-game power cut occurred, “the audience turned to Twitter,” said Steve Hasker, president of global media products and advertiser solutions. This is “proof positive that the way audiences interact with TV programming has changed forever”.
“While the TV industry has ascribed value to its viewing audiences for decades, today’s question is how to understand the value of that social TV activity,” said Hasker. “Through our recently announced agreement with Twitter to create a social TV rating that builds on our SocialGuide platform, we’ll be able to provide that answer in several months.”
Stuart Knapman, a former BBC researcher, partner in media research agency Essential and – from April – UK head of The Sound Research, said TV has always been central to the national conversation but “Twitter makes that conversation more immediate”.
“Different types of shows generate different patterns of Twitter activity,” said Knapman. “They hook and engage audiences in different way. The more that Twitter, broadcasters and media agencies can understand this, the more they can help brands to adapt their strategy to make the most of it.”
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1 Comment
John Grono
12 years ago
Just another perspective... 26.1m tweets from 5.3m people for the biggest annual sport event in the US (if not the world), with a domestic TV viewing audience of over 100m people means we're talking around 5% of the viewing audience making 5 tweets across the 4 or so hours For you next Twitter campaign keep those ratios top-of-mind..
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