Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what
consumers watch and buy, and Twitter today announced an exclusive
multi-year agreement to create the "Nielsen Twitter TV Rating" for the
US market. Under this agreement, Nielsen and Twitter will deliver a
syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation on
Twitter, slated for commercial availability at the start of the fall
2013 TV season.
"The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating is a significant step forward for the
industry, particularly as programmers develop increasingly captivating
live TV and new second-screen experiences, and advertisers create
integrated ad campaigns that combine paid and earned media," said Steve
Hasker, President, Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at
Nielsen. "As a media measurement leader we recognize that Twitter is the
preeminent source of real-time television engagement data."
"Our users love the shared experience of watching television while
engaging with other viewers and show talent. Twitter has become the
world'sdigital water cooler, whereconversations about TV happen in
real time. Nielsen is who the networks rely on to give better content to
viewers and clearer results to marketers," said Chloe Sladden, Twitter's
vice president of media. "This effort reflects Nielsen's foresight into
the evolving nature of the TV viewing experience, and we're looking
forward to collaborating with Twitter ecosystem partners on this metric
to help broadcasters and advertisers create truly social TV experiences."
TV viewers discuss TV on Twitter, creating a new dynamic between
audiences and programming. The service's more than 140 million active
users send one billion Tweets every two and a half days, the vast
majority of which is public and conversational, making Twitter data a
necessity in producing standardized metrics representing online and
mobile conversations about television.
The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will serve to complement Nielsen's
existing TV ratings, giving TV networks and advertisers the real-time
metrics required to understand TV audience social activity. These
ratings will build on top of NM Incite's SocialGuide audience engagement
analytics platform. NM Incite is a joint venture between Nielsen and
McKinsey & Co., and the hub of Nielsen's social media analytics efforts.
"The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has generated a
substantial connected' TV audience that is simultaneously watching
television and accessing the Internet through these devices. This, in
turn, will continue to create the opportunity for content providers like
CBS to offer engaging interactive features for our viewers. As this form
of viewer engagement evolves into a mainstream activity, it presents
ways for CBS to enhance the viewing experience for our viewers and our
advertisers. We are already engaged with Nielsen and Twitter in a
program of research and experimentation in this exciting new area," said
David F. Poltrack, Chief Research Officer, CBS Corporation. "We are
pleased to see Nielsen and Twitter join together to provide a
comprehensive measurement system that will allow us to employ these
social networking tools to their full advantage."
"Twitter is a powerful messenger and a lot of fun for fans of our shows,
providing them with the opportunity to engage, connect and voice their
opinions directly to each other and us," said Peter Rice, Chairman and
CEO, Fox Networks Group. "Combining the instant feedback of Twitter with
Nielsen ratings will benefit us, program producers, and our advertising
partners."
ABOUT THE NIELSEN TWITTER TV RATING
The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will enhance the social TV analytics and
metrics available today from SocialGuide by adding the first-ever
measurement of the total audience for social TV activity -- both those
participating in the conversation and those who were exposed to the
activity -- providing the precise size of the audience and effect of
social TV to TV programming.
SocialGuide, recently acquired by Nielsen and NM Incite, currently
captures Twitter TV activity for all U.S. programming across 234 TV
channels in English and Spanish, and more than 36,000 programs. Through
a sophisticated classification process, SocialGuide matches Tweets to TV
programs to offer key social TV metrics including the number of unique
Tweets associated with a given program and rankings for the most social
TV programs.
