The Fight to Win the SocialTV Battle

 Discussion/debate about Twitter and Facebook usage on the second screens while watching TV around the blogosphere has been at all time highs recently.  What seems somewhat clear is that socialTV is helping to push viewers back to live viewing in an age when DVRs and on-demand programming have pushed down ratings. "It's a great symbiotic relationship where we drive the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, and that viral conversation drives people back to watch our shows," said Viacom chief Philippe Dauman in an interview with Bloomberg. He offered up MTV's recent Video Music Awards as a prime example, a show that generated 18.5 million tweets (personally I thought that was do to Miley Cryus's foam finger and twerking but I'll give them that). The topic is getting even more hype do to the very open efforts by both Facebook's and Twitter as they clammer for the attention of TV networks and producers. At the end of September Facebook announced it would start sharing weekly data reports with ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS. The "big data" being shared includes the number of likes, comments and shares TV episodes get on the social network.

 

Yesterday the antisipated unveiling of Nielsen and Twitter first list of TV show rankings and ironically there was little connection between most watched shows and most talked about shows. Twitter reported Breaking Bad took the most tweets for the week of Sept. 23-29 while the top primetime show in total viewers was actually NBC's NFL Football: New England at Atlanta. The only show that did appear in both top ten lists for the week was The Voice, which ranked number two on Twitter's list and number eight and nine on the primetime rankings.

Initial analysis of TV activity shows that the entire Twitter TV audience for per episode is, on average, 50 times larger than the authors. If, for example, 2,000 people are tweeting about a program, 100,000 people are seeing those Tweets. Those 100,000 aren’t necessarily viewers of that particular TV episode. Nielsen notes that Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are a separate set of metrics to traditional National TV Ratings. They do not change traditional National TV Ratings. But many believe they will complement each other.  To me this sounds like typical audience inflation many have debated with Nielsen data for years. The numbers are however one chooses to interpret them however the questions the advertisers need to ask is, are the RIGHT people seeing this stuff and are they buying anything?

Nielsen: Tweets Actually Influences TV Viewing... Really!

No surprise but this week Nielsen released research that conclusively states that an increase in Twitter commentary about a TV show can increase viewership of that same show as it airs live.  By analyzing minute-to-minute trends in Nielsen’s live TV ratings and tweets for 221 broadcast primetime program episodes using Nielsen’s SocialGuide, the study found that live TV ratings had a meaningful impact in related tweets among 48% of the episodes sampled.  The results also showed that the volume of tweets caused significant changes in live TV ratings among 29% of the episodes.

Fox Wins with 50th Daytona 500

Sunday's running of the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Fox scored increased average audience, total audience and household ratings compared to a year ago, according to fast national figures released today by Nielsen Media Research.

The 50th Daytona 500 averaged 17.8 million viewers, a 1 percent improvement over last season (17.5 million). It was also the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 ever on Fox, trailing the 2005 race in both stats. According to a network news release, 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of the race.

Obviously Ryan Newman Penske Racing and Dodge are not alone in Sunday’s winners circle. Fox had previously announced that it had sold out its inventory for the telecast with 30-second spots selling for $550,000 each, up from $475,000 last year.

DVR Playback makes Significant Increase to Viewing Levels

Playback from DVRs is increasing the amount of time people spend watching television, according to new data from The Nielsen Company. In comparing total television usage (Live viewing plus DVR playback) for persons 18-49 in 11/07 to total television usage in 11/05 (before Nielsen measured DVR homes and penetration was very low) Nielsen found that viewing had increased slightly throughout the day, and was 3% higher at 9:00 p.m. and 5% higher between 11:00 p.m.-midnight. Links: Investor's Business Daily, Feb 14, 2008 - Nielsen Reports DVR Playback is Adding to TV Viewing Levels and Nielsen - Press Release

DVR and Viewership

DVR penetration is still on the rise and while more and more viewers are recording programs, they're actually not delaying viewing for very long, according to a recent analysis conducted by Palisades MediaGroup. The study discovered that, on average, more than half of all DVR primetime program playback is done within the same day it was recorded. And by the end of the following day, DVR owners have completed approximately three-quarters of all program playback. "Nielsen estimates DVR penetration to be at 20%, up from 12% in January of this year. While this is a good-sized increase, the impact on viewership remains minor."



According to the study, ratings increase just over 15% due to DVR playback from live to live-plus-seven. The average rating against adults aged 18-49 was 2.5 for live viewing and 2.9 for live-plus-seven viewing; an increase of only 16.7%. While fast-forwarding through the ads is still an issue, not all people who use a DVR fast-forward. The data show that less than half of people who watch a recorded program fast-forward through the ads during playback. Equally significant, the top 10 most-DVR'd primetime shows among adults 18-49 experience as much as 58% of playback on the same day (CBS's Survivor: China) and as little as 27%.

Commercial Ratings – Power in the DVR Viewers Hands

This month, Nielsen Media Research began measuring how TV viewing habits have changed and they released their report on “commercial ratings” this morning. Finding: More than half of digital video recorder (DVR) users fast-forwarded through commercials while watching prime-time network fare. With 17 percent of the nation’s TV viewers armed with DVRs, 10 percent of broadcasting primetime programming is now time-shifted. On a positive note, when you combine time-shifted numbers (out to three days) with live numbers, Nielsen said viewership of the typical prime-time show increases by 73 percent. For example, The Office jumps from 3.11 to 3.36 among the 18-49 demographic. This is no surprise, as previous ratings didn’t include the time-shifted ratings, and not everyone who watches shows on DVRs are skipping the ads(just halp of them), so there’s a net increase on paper. But when all is said and done, the simple fact remains: people with DVRs skip most of the commercials, and DVR penetration is climbing fast. I think it’s pretty obvious where this is going. Link(s): TVweek.com May 31, 2007, AP May 31, 2007 - More than half of DVR viewers skipping commercials, Nielsen says in first ad study

Ad-supported cable viewership up 29%, broadcast falls 17%

The driving force in TV growth is cable, says Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer of Turner Broadcasting. Viewing of ad-supported cable is 29% higher than five years ago, with adults 18-49 now watching 15 hours per week. Broadcast viewing has fallen 17% to 8.5 hours per person per week. Link: Media Daily News, Dec 14, 06 - Ad-supported cable viewership up 29%, broadcast falls 17%

DVR Makes big Difference to "The Office" & "Earl"

In our busy household the DVR has been the best thing to come along in years. The DVR is typically scheduled to record most all of our favorite shows and we watch them when we can however this normally occurs with in a 72 hour period. Obviously many of you are in agreement because new Nielsen data reveals that 78% of viewers who watch recorded broadcast primetime shows play them back within two days, with 84% playing them back within three days. We’ve known for years that DVRs would fundamentally change how people watch TV, and now for the first time it’s beginning to reflect solidly in the ratings. That’s because the data also reveals that when delayed viewing is fully taken into account, ratings actually soar for some shows. Programs that are only modest performers on the nights they air are becoming big hits when that live viewing is supplemented by DVR viewing over the following week. The top ten impacted shows according to Nielsen are: “The Office”, “Earl”, “CSI”, “Ghost Whisperer”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Lost”, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”, “Friday Night Lights”, “Heroes”, “CSI: Miami” and “Survivor”. It’s still remains unclear how many viewers are watching recorded commercials however one thing is for sure, networks continuing to do business on a live-only basis are significantly distorting what true viewing is and are seriously short selling themselves. Link: MediaWeek, 11/09/06 - Nielsen: DVR Playback Viewing Occurs Within 3 Days of Air and Media Life, 11/09/06 - Just why the scuffleover DVR viewing

NFL Investment Paying off for ESPN

The Giants’ 36-22 victory over the Cowboys on ESPN’s Monday Night Football was viewed by the largest audience in the history of cable television according to an ESPN spokesperson. The network stated that the NFL contest was seen in an average of 11.807 million homes, based on a 12.8 rating, translating to 16.028 million viewers two-plus. The previous record was CNN’s November 1993 NAFTA debate between then-Vice President Al Gore and Ross Perot on Larry King Live, which was seen in 11.174 million homes. The MNF ratings also topped those for four CNN telecasts of the Gulf War in 1991, topped by 11.742 million homes Jan. 17 of that year.

ESPN's Ratings Breaker

In ESPN’s third Monday Night Football broadcast the Saints dominated the Falcons 23-3 in front of a record-breaking audience. ESPN pulled an 11.8 rating (14,999,000 viewers two-plus) for the game and it was the highest-rated program in ESPN history. It was also the top program on both broadcast or cable networks Monday night. According to HitBox data, the network also drew big traffic on the Web with its football coverage, generating more than 27 million page views on Monday. In an unusual side note, an article published by ESPN, tooting there own horn, “ESPN Draws Largest Audience for Saints Homecoming” they state…

“It was the third time in three weeks that Monday Night Football set such a high-water mark and the second time the network won the night in primetime.”

Considering the game was the first played and broadcast from the New Orleans Superdome since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city and region I think that they might have been more sensitive with their choice of words.

Broadcast TV Ratings - A New Low

The summer has never been a high point for TV ratings for the big four broadcast networks however the first week in July 2006 represents a new low of lows. Fewer people watched the Big Four networks last week than at any time in recorded history. CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox averaged 20.8 million viewers during the average prime-time minute last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That sunk below the previous record of 21.5 million, set during the last week of July in 2005. Link: Yahoo News, July 11, 2006 – A low watermark for broadcast TV viewing

World Cup TV Viewing Double '02

Univision’s Spanish language viewership for the 2006 FIFA World Cup soccer competition is 53% higher than the 2002 event with most of the month-long tournament left to go. According to Nielsen's NTI Fast National Ratings, Univision says the first eight games have averaged 2.6 million Persons 2+, which is 1.7 million more than the average of the first eight games of the 2002 World Cup tournament in Korea/Japan. Even more dramatic growth was seen among Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11 with nearly five times and more than three times the audience in these demographics respectively. Sunday's match-up between Mexico and Iran has been the biggest draw thus far. The game, which resulted in a Mexican victory, drew an average audience of 5.4 million Persons 2+, making it the most-watched sporting event in Spanish-language television history, beating even previous World Cup final matches, Univision said of the Nielsen results. Over the course of the World cup competition, Univision will carry live coverage of 56 games, including the final championship match, and sister network TeleFutura will broadcast eight live games. All games will be rebroadcast during primetime on either TeleFutura or the Galavision cable network. ABC’s English-language telecast are showing even bigger gains, up 65% in ratings from two games versus four years ago. Links: MediaDaily News, 06/13/06 – U.S. TV World Cup Ratings More Than 50% Higher

Cables Ratings Decline more than Broadcasters during Breaks

Magna Global recently completed and released the analysis of their study on commercial pod and program ratings. The research identified that broadcast networks outperform cable networks in retaining viewers' attention when ads are airing. For most of us it hardly comes as a surprise that the study would find that audience dips during commercial breaks. What is surprising is that they are far less than the 20 or 30 percent declines some media analysts had projected. Don’t get to comfortable with that breaking news because offsetting that bit of comfort is another finding of the study, a rather dire one: DVR users skip 75 percent of commercials during playback. Link: MediaLifeMagazine.com – May 11, 06 Ads on Broadcast Retain More Eyeballs