6nielsenEnd of last year, Nielsen, a leading provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, and NM Incite, a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Company, announced the acquisition of SocialGuide, a provider of social TV measurement, analytics and audience engagement solutions.

The acquisition represents Nielsen’s commitment to delivering comprehensive media measurement solutions, and expands NM Incite’s social media research and analytics capabilities, especially since Social TV is transforming the consumer viewing experience.

“The skyrocketing adoption and use of social media among consumers is transforming TV-watching into a more immediate and shared experience. As TV networks see this phenomenon unfold, they require understanding of the impact of social TV on their programming, ratings and advertising effectiveness,” said Steve Hasker, President, Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen.

“Nielsen’s expertise in creating industry standard consumer measurement means we are uniquely suited to establish a deeper understanding of today’s highly-engaged consumers through social TV metrics. We are thrilled by the addition of SocialGuide to our portfolio and welcome them to Nielsen”, he added.

SocialGuide is a comprehensive, real-time social TV capture service, covering programming across 232 U.S. TV channels in English and Spanish, and over 30,000 programs. Built for linear TV, SocialGuide’s intelligent analytics and engagement platform provides insight on the social impact of TV, enabling networks to engage with the social fan base in real-time. It is integrated into NM Incite, the hub of Nielsen’s social media measurement and analytics efforts, and complements NM Incite’s existing software and data solutions. Together, Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will focus on efforts to quantify the relationship between social TV and TV ratings to enable advertisers to maximize the impact of their spend, and provide new research metrics to understand social TV’s impact on consumer behavior and viewing habits.

“The opportunity in social TV is too big to ignore and there is a need for standard metrics and research to uncover the effect of social TV on programming and advertising strategies,” said Andrew Somosi, CEO of NM Incite. “TV networks are expanding their research, advertising and engagement efforts across social media. The powerful combination of Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will enable us to deliver unparalleled insights and capabilities to our TV and advertiser clients."

“Nielsen is the industry leader in providing cross-platform and multi-media measurement solutions,” said Sean Casey, founder of SocialGuide. “There is no greater opportunity to establish industry metrics and standards in social TV than bringing Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide together. We are incredibly excited to work together and bring TV networks the next level of measurement.”

Indeed, anew study by Nielsen and SocialGuide confirms the relationship between Twitter and TV ratings. In addition to analyzing Tweets about live TV, the study compared the impact of Twitter against a number of key variables in order to gauge the strength of the relationship of Twitter with ratings. In evaluating the Fall 2012 premiere and midseason program ratings of over 140 broadcast and cable programs, Twitter proved to be one of three variables - - including prior year rating and advertising spend - - to positively impact TV ratings in a statistically significant way.

"We expected to see a correlation between Twitter and TV ratings, but this study quantifies the strength of that relationship," said Andrew Somosi, CEO of SocialGuide. "We see three key factors. While prior year rating accounts for the lion's share of the variability in TV ratings, Twitter's presence as a top three influencer tells us that Tweeting about live TV is likely a significant indicator of program engagement."

According to the study, for premiere episodes, an 8.5% increase in Twitter volume is associated with a 1% increase in TV program ratings for 18-34 year olds. Additionally, a 14.0% increase in Twitter volume is associated with a 1% increase in TV program ratings for 35-49 year olds, reflecting a stronger relationship between Twitter and TV for younger audiences.

Further, the study found that Twitter's correlation to TV ratings strengthens for midseason episodes for both age groups. An increase in Twitter volume of 4.2% and 8.4% is associated with a 1% increase in ratings for 18-34 year olds and 35-49 year olds, respectively. Moreover, by midseason Twitter was responsible for more of the variance in ratings for 18-34 year olds than advertising spend.

A 2012 internal Nielsen study on the 2011 TV season suggested that the alignment of Twitter with TV ratings grew throughout the season, culminating in the strongest relationship during the show's finale. Additional research from Nielsen and SocialGuide will be conducted at the end of the 2012-2013 TV season to compare this study's findings on premiere and midseason episodes to finale episodes of the same programs.

"The TV industry is dynamic and it was important for us to analyze multiple variables to truly understand Twitter's impact on TV ratings," said Mike Hess, Executive Vice President of Media Analytics for Nielsen. "While our study doesn't prove causality, the correlation we uncovered is significant and we will continue our research to deepen the industry's understanding of this relationship."

This research follows Nielsen's recent announcement to create the "Nielsen Twitter TV Rating" for the U.S. market. The Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are the first-ever syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation on Twitter. The ratings are slated for commercial availability at the start of the Fall 2013 TV season. (Source: SocialGuide)

By Hiba Assi