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TV ratings for years, but in today’s powerful social media landscape, Nielsen ratings are becoming increasingly outdated.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?