A Snapshot of the Exploding Social-TV Ecosystem
Key companies in the social TV space and the niches they occupy. Prepared by Trendrr for AdAge.
This graphic is by no means a complete list. Who is missing?
Reblogged from Weber Shandwick, by Justin Tsang
The Social TV movement has arrived. And it’s here to stay. Don’t believe me? Well tune into your favorite Prime Time TV show this week and chances are that you’ll see at least one of the following things:
- On-screen promotions of hashtags, Twitter handles and/or Facebook Pages
- Promotions of network and show-specific second-screen apps
- Contests or sweepstakes that incorporate some sort of social interaction
In fact, a recent study by Accenture found that 64 percent of consumers recall seeing social prompts on TV. Which means all of the above is actually sticking with viewers.
Now that Social TV is here, what makes a solid second screen experience?
Here are my five ingredients for a successful and sustainable second screen experience… [Full Story]
Reblogged from Advanced Television
Viacom has unveiled the results of its new ‘Social TV: Viewers C’s The Moment’ study exploring the social TV phenomenon through the lens of the viewer. While fairly nascent, social TV and co-viewing trends are growing rapidly, representing a shift in TV viewing from a lean-back to a lean-forward experience. Viewers engage in an average of seven different types of social TV activities – online or offline – on at least a weekly basis.
The most common activities include watching TV with others (85 per cent), searching for supplemental content (61 per cent) and viewing TV show clips on social networks (58 per cent). The new research reveals that consumers engaging in social TV activities “C’s the moment” primarily by communicating, consuming content and checking comments.
“One of the main goals of this research was to understand how to inspire social TV activity among our audiences,” said Colleen Fahey Rush, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer, Viacom Media Networks. “At VMN, we’re focused on leveraging our fans’ attachment to their favorite shows by developing compelling social TV services and apps that deepen those connections and unlock the value of social chatter.” [Full Story]
Show tops NBC’s ‘The Voice’ in social chatter by a mile, per Bluefin
Reblogged from AdWeek, by Mike Shields
Back in the old days, i.e., PF&T (pre-Facebook and Twitter),American Idol fans were still social. Yet instead of status updates and tweets, they did what they could with “the technology of those times,” explained Don Wilcox, Fox’s vp and gm of branded entertainment.
Now, in this social TV era, the aging Idol franchise appears to have pivoted brilliantly. According to the social analytics firm Bluefin Labs, Idol—which wrapped season 11 last night—generated 5,956,134 total social comments, an all-time record in this medium’s short history.
That’s 121 percent better than NBC’s The Voice, which generated 2,698,460 total comments, despite being the newer and arguably far buzzier show this season. During Wednesday’s finale, Idol registered 594,469 social mentions per hour.
Of course, Idol also lends itself perfectly to social TV interaction, given its season-long competition and the fact that it airs live.
While the show’s high-profile judges and hosts—like Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Seacrest—periodically mention Idol in their social media comments, the big push for social TV presence came from stunts created for the contestants and their rabid fan bases. Rather than just throwing a hashtag up on the screen occasionally, Idol execs looked to capture moments in the show that lent themselves to channel social media activity… [Full Story]
Everson: ‘This Is The Beginning of What Facebook Plus TV Can Look Like’
Reblogged from AdAge, by Cotton Delo
Even as its stock price continues to tumble… Facebook is busy exploring new revenue options. Today it’s announcing an arrangement with TBS in which the network will bundle Facebook ads with its own TV and digital inventory to sell as a single package to promote branded content.
The deal with TBS marks the first time that Facebook has partnered with a network to package its inventory with its own, according to Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s VP-global marketing solutions. It’s not the first sign of a social platform looking to cash in on the social-TV phenomenon — last week Twitter and ESPN announced a deal to conceptualize and sell branded campaigns around tentpole sports events like the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals.
Ms. Everson declined to comment on how the ad packages would be structured, but she did note that “sponsored stories” — or ads with a social layer that tell users when their friends have liked or otherwise engaged with a brand — with embedded video will likely be a facet.
According to Donna Speciale, president of Turner Entertainment and young-adult ad sales, Turner had chosen to loop Facebook into the TBS offering because of its massive audience and the fact that marketers had been clamoring for a way to integrate a social dimension into the TV and digital buys they run through the network… [Full Story]
Game of Thrones Ascent to Bring the Story of the Hugely Popular HBO Series to Fans on Facebook
HBO has issued a press release announcing yet another Game of Thrones game entering development… We can now add this Facebook game, entitled Game of Thrones Ascent, to the list. The game will tie heavily into Facebook’s social features, and ask players to make moral and political choices with their friends similar to the big risks taken in the series.
The game is being developed by social gaming start-up Disruptor Beam and promises to allow players to “lead the life of a noble during the time of upheaval as portrayed in the books and the series thus experiencing a new type of game that unites both story and strategy”.
No release date has been set, although Disruptor Beam has announced that there will be an open beta at some point. To be considered for the beta, you must Like the game’s Facebook fan page. [Full Press Release]
Reblogged from HuffPost
Social TV deals such as this are becoming more common for brands and networks. Stephen Colbert’s on-air routine taking Wheat Thins and its advertising memo to task in a branded sponsorship earlier this year was deliberate, says Amanda Richman, President of Digital at MediaVest, in interview with Beet.TV
We caught up with her at the Ad Age Social TV conference last week to discuss the Colbert-Kraft Food sponsorship. She says that it generated mega buzz as the host poked fun at the brand as well as how the agency looks to social media to measure the impact of such integrations… [Full Story]
Youtoo Puts You on TV With New Facebook App
Reblogged from Mashable, by Christina Warren
Youtoo, which bills itself as the world’s first Social TV Network, has just released a new Facebook app that allows users to be on TV.
Youtoo launched in 2011 and is a cable network with a social twist. Users can record their own video responses to on-air cues and see themselves on TV. Users can also post their text comments about a show for on-air inclusion.
To date, the network has broadcast more than 90,000 viewer videos. Realty TV God Mark Burnett is an investor in Youtoo and sees huge potential in bridging the gap between TV viewers and on-air content.
Youtoo Technology is Coming to More Shows and Networks
Although Youtoo is available in more than 15 million cable households, CEO Chris Wyatt really sees the network and the website as a way to test new products and technologies. Youtoo then works with television producers and networks to integrate those technologies into the shows themselves.
“Youtoo is a software company that just happens to have a TV network as its testbed,” Wyatt says. The goal is to develop technology that others can then whitelabel and customize for their own uses… Wyatt tells us that Youtoo’s technology — including the new Facebook app — will be powering dozens of shows this fall. [Full Story]
Reblogged from Smithsonian.com, by Randy Rieland
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg thinks watching TV should be a social experience. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Andrew Feinberg
Mark Zuckerberg told potential investors that the company’s top priorities will be to improve the Facebook mobile experience–its members now average seven hours a month checking updates on their smart phones–and to develop a model for mobile advertising so each of us sees only the type of ads for which we’ve expressed a preference.
But Zuckerberg also mentioned another big Facebook frontier, one that could be just as big a part of our daily lives. It’s what’s become known as social TV–basically using social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to connect people viewing TV shows, even though they’re watching on different screens in different zip codes, sometimes on different continents.
Some go so far as to suggest that Facebook could actually save TV. One is Nick Thomas, an analyst for London-based Informa Telecoms and Media. He acknowledges that, at the moment, Facebook seems more threat than boon because research shows more and more people are actually focusing on their small screens–laptops, tablets, smart phones–while occasionally looking up at the big screen.
But he argues that savvy TV programmers will tap into Facebook and Twitter chatter to boost a show’s fan community or turn live TV into a special event shared by millions–some with something actually witty, poignant or insightful to say. More often than not, the best part of award shows now are the tweets about what’s happening on stage. (There were an estimated 13 million social media comments made during this year’s Grammy Awards.) And nothing cranks up the drama of a sporting event like a torrent of tweets.
Case in point: Last week, after Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton hit three home runs in a ball game, word spread quickly on social networks, according to Bob Bowman, an exec for Major League Baseball. By the time Hamilton smacked a fourth homer, the audience for the game had swelled.
“As the player hits that third home run, fans are all over the place chatting about it,” said Bowman. “I think it’s complementary. As soon as something is happening, fans want to get to as many people as possible.”
But social TV isn’t just about the big boys. Here’s a sampling of some of the startups hoping to cash in on the obession with the second screen… [Full Story]
Almost one in five viewers starts watching a show after reading about it through social media
Reblogged from eMarketer
Social media is fundamentally changing the way engaged viewers are watching and talking about their favorite programs. No longer content to watch shows passively, viewers are taking to social networks to get recommendations and share their own opinions on programs, making the digital realm the new host of “watercooler” discussions.
Research has also found that the conversations taking place on social networks are leading viewers to new shows. According to a January 2012 poll of US heads of TV households conducted by marketing research company Horowitz Associates, 19% of respondents had begun watching a show after reading about it on a social network or blog. Viewers also headed online to find out additional information about shows and content. Twenty-three percent of those polled said they had visited a website or used an app that provided more content about a show, while 39% had used the internet to search for more information about something they saw on television. [Full Story]
