Small Percentage of TV Viewers Using Social Media in Prime Time, Survey Says
While Facebook and Twitter are promoted as driving people to tune in for TV shows, only a small percentage of those surveyed used social media during prime time and learned of new programs via social networks, according to a “Talking Social TV 2” report released last week by the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence.
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About 6.8 percent of the 1,665 participants in the 21-day survey conducted Sept. 16 to Oct. 6 became aware of new prime-time shows via social media; for returning programs the number dropped to 3.3 percent, the survey said. That’s against the 39.7 percent of those surveyed who discovered new shows through commercials or promotions, the report said. While Facebook and Twitter had an impact on “viewers’ choice,” they were still “relatively” small when measured against traditional promotion, said Beth Rockwood, senior vice president of market resources at Discovery Communications, who heads the council’s social media committee. She and other executives spoke Thursday at a council event on the survey.
Facebook was the most popular social network among those surveyed -- a sub-group drawn from Nielsen’s online panel -- in being used by about 11.4 percent of participants, while 3.3 percent used Twitter, the council said. The survey respondents made 78,310 diary entries tied to 1,596 shows as part of survey during the 21-day period with most averaging five to six entries per day, said a Nielsen spokesman. Survey participants were paid $75, he said.
About 19 percent of those polled used social media related to prime-time programming one or more times daily, with 7.3 percent employing it while watching shows, the report said. In similar report in May and June 2013, about 12 percent of those surveyed were on social media related to prime time one or more times daily, Rockwood said. Of those using social media while viewing prime-time TV, 2.7 percent were on Facebook and 0.7 percent Twitter, the report said. About 1.1 percent used both Twitter and Facebook, the council said. Facebook and Twitter had no comment.
Among the so-called TV “super connectors” -- respondents who accounted for 22 percent of those surveyed -- the use of Facebook and Twitter rose to 5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, with 3.1 percent using both, the report said. So-called sports super connectors accounted for 17 percent of those surveyed. About 5.7 percent of sports super connectors were on Facebook, 1 percent on Twitter, and 2.7 percent both. Super connectors are daily users of social media, largely to follow actors, shows and personalities, the report said.
Some 94 percent of prime-time shows continue to be viewed on TVs, the report said. PCs were used by 5 percent, followed by tablets (0.9 percent), phone (0.5 percent) and other (0.2 percent), the survey said. When it came to “socially connected viewing,” tablets were the device of choice at 21 percent, trailed by phones (17 percent), PCs (10.6 percent) and TVs (7 percent), the survey said. About 70 percent of those surveyed watched prime-time programming live, while 18 percent opted for a DVR to view it later, the report said. For socially connected viewing, 11.1 percent accessed the program by deploying a channel app or website, while 10 percent chose on-demand TV and 7.6 percent an online service, the report said. About 6.3 percent opted for a DVR for viewing at another time, the report said. About 71 percent of respondents viewed a current episode, a number that shrank to 7.6 percent for “socially connected viewing,” the survey said.
Multiple episodes or so-called binge viewing was the choice of 10.7 percent of the socially connected group, followed by current and older episodes at 7.6 percent and 5.6 percent, the survey said. TV show premieres were the most connected for social media viewing at 10.4 percent, while sports and returning programs trailed at 9.4 percent and 7.4 percent, the survey said. TV specials were the most appealing for social media viewing at 15.5 percent, followed by science fiction (11.1 percent), sports (9.4 percent), movies (8.4 percent), reality programming (8.1 percent) and dramas (7.9 percent), the report said.