Social Media Is Stations' Sales Trump Card

Higher ratings and greater ad revenues have always traveled on the same road. The more viewers, the easier it is to attract advertisers and the higher the price for spots. It’s that old law of supply and demand. 

Today, social media tools are quickly becoming a hybrid powerhouse for achieving both outcomes. They not only represent a high octane fuel for driving viewership, they can also empower account reps to offer advertisers the cross-platform marketing promotions that can transport viewers from programming to their digital destinations.

Recent research provides some fuel that can help you shift social media trials into high gear to drive 2012 advertising revenues:

An October Nielsen report, entitled Social Media and TV — Who’s Talking, When and What About? recaps the company’s work with NM Incite to analyze how viewers are interacting with television programming using social media tools. The overall use of social media typically skews slightly higher among females (55%). That being said, the report found a reverse split when it analyzed which viewers were using social media sites to talk about TV. That use skews slightly higher among males (55%).

When it comes to interacting with TV programming, the use of social media also steers beyond our stereotype of teens as the heaviest users. “Those under age 18 account for 34% of the overall social media population, yet make up only 12% of the population on social media sites talking about TV,” according to the report. When it analyzed social media use among viewer in the 25-34 year-old demographic, which typical accounts for 17% of the overall social media population, they represent nearly 30% of the of the population talking about TV on social media sites. Significantly, the study also found very little difference when it analyzed the use of social media by ethnicity.

The study went on to analyze when viewers were likeliest to use social media and what they were discussing. It found “TV buzz” closely mimicked traditional ratings patterns and a show’s yearly cycle. The highest uses of social media coincide with the days when many major shows air — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The highest levels of social media activity occurred in September, right before a show premieres and during its initial month. The study also found increased TV buzz in January, with the introduction of new and returning shows and during April and May “as consumers respond to show finales.”

Prompted by the TV shows that encourage interaction, the study found that consumers use social media to talk about a number of key TV-related topics such as “winning” (14%), “voting” (6%) and “judging” (6%). The genres responsible for fueling the most buzz are “funny” (10%), “romance” (8%) and “drama” (6%), while the most popular topics for discussion centered on “entertaining” (11%), “physical attractiveness” (9%), “fans” (9%) and “writers/creators” (6%).

Findings like these are already getting the industry’s attention. TVNewsCheck’s sister publication, NetNewsCheck, reports that TVB, the Television Advertising Bureau, is encouraging stations to adopt social media as a promotional tool for driving higher levels of viewership and engagement.

NetNewsCheck recently featured a Lost Remote interview with TVB President Steve Lanzano, Social Media's Killer App: TV, which describes the “simpatico relationship” between social media and TV. Citing TV’s role as “the No. 1 conversation in social media,” Lanzano points out that both platforms have a lot to gain from one another. “TV is providing the ‘water cooler talk’ on social networks and in so doing, creating buzz around the shows which in turn, is driving viewership and ratings for TV programs.”

While much of the market research has focused on the link between popular network shows, Lanzano outlined the ways stations are discovering the value of social media by tying local programming with Facebook and Twitter. Examples include KOMU Columbia-Jefferson, Mo., where the station’s Facebook page was used by its Facebook fans to coordinate and share important information following the tornado that hit Joplin. Some of these online conversations went on to become part of the station’s on-air reporting of the disaster. 

Stations affected by Hurricane Irene and the East Coast earthquake reported similar results. Their social media sites augmented on air coverage as well as helped to provide source material for news reports. "Washington TV stations’ websites usage soared to nearly 550,000 in the hours following the East Coast earthquake — almost three times the number of visits from the day before the earthquake,” Lanzano reported. 

Newsroom uses of social media to drive ongoing viewership include twitter feeds that scroll during the broadcast as well as using tools such as Facebook and Twitter to make viewers aware of the stories that will be covered upcoming broadcasts. As another example of that simpatico relationship, reporters also scour these sites for potential news stories, Lanzano noted.

In fact, another article appearing in NetNewsCheck earlier this week reinforces this notion. It’s entitled “How Mainstream Media Outlets Use Twitter.” The article begins with this declaration, “For nearly every news organization, Twitter has become a regular part of the daily news outreach.”