Nielsen ratings have been the industry standard for determining TV ratings for years, but in today’s powerful social media landscape, Nielsen ratings are becoming increasingly outdated. Consumers are viewing TV online, and therefore, new measurements are being developed. SocialSenseTV is a measurement tool that monitors billions of interactions on blogs, social networking sites, discussion forums and other online sources to determine how much social media buzz TV shows are generating. Guess what TV show was number one on their recently released Top 20 List. LOST! Interestingly enough, LOST is only ranked in tenth place on the Nielsen ratings
Aside from the fact that I’m a huge LOST fan, this is exciting for a couple of other reasons. LOST’s high ranking on the SocialSenseTV Top 20 List is a testament to the power of social media and a sign that as the population ages and the average age of social media and internet use grows, new metrics such as SocialSenseTV will come to play an more prominent role in understanding how people interact with media. This understanding will most likely effect how TV show marketers spend their budgets in the future.
What do you think LOST’s ranking says about the power of social media? Will social media discussions about TV shows impact future social media marketing initiatives?
I hardly ever watch tv, the only times I do, it’s for live sports, river monsters on animal planet (kick-ass show!) and pawn stars on history channel (another kick-ass show). Thanks to hulu and netflix, people are watching when they want to watch. So, SocialSense makes complete sense.
I think it’s great that SocialSenseTV is embracing the discussion of TV shows on social media. I find that during the broadcast of popular shows like American Idol or Gossip Girl, my twitter feed is full of people live-tweeting the broadcast…I think LOST’s social media ranking will inevitably encourage other shows/networks to make more space for social media in their marketing campaigns.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Alice, I agree that other shows/networks will make more space for social media in their marketing plans. Dan, I’m going to check out river monsters asap.
I think this says a lot about the demographic viewing the shows. Whever your highest ranking (be it Nielsen or SocialSenseTV) occurs should be an excellent way to decide how to focus your marketing campaign. As Dan mentions, the ease and convenience of watching TV online is becoming more and more popular. So all in all, I definitely think that social media discussions will impact future marketing initiatives!
This makes total sense. Old, tired systems are crashing all around us daily, it seems. Like Dan said, we have the ability to basically choose when we watch something, where, and how. Nielson is irrelevant in this landscape.
For me personally I very rarely watch shows on the night that they were aired. I often work nights and therefore never catch them. I usually just watch on hulu whenever I have time. I think the Nielson ratings are outdated because this information can be measured in so many more places now.
I wonder if LOST is so much higher in SocialSense because its audience is more wired….anecdotally, I just googled “top 10 shows according to Nielsen” and the first few results don’t even tell me the answer and I’m not in the mood to go digging.
Exactly Becky! It’s all about convenience.
Do you think Nielsen will adapt their rating system to social media, or eventually be replaced?
Alice, I think they are forced to adapt as any company is when the market is changing. If not, they’ll be just like Blockbuster, dead in the water.