Twitter Will Be Used To Measure TV Ratings

Audience Engagement Becomes A Priority

As an audience you have no control on whether or not your favourite television programs will be cancelled or not. Despite a strong fan base on social media networks such as Twitter or Tumblr, some television shows are dropped because their TV ratings aren't good enough to bring in advertisers. In the digital age relying only on TV ratings is a bit outdated, especially considering that the box in our living rooms is no longer the only medium used to watch TV. However, things are about to change.

Kantar Media, in partnership with Twitter, have announced the UK's first official Twitter metric. Available mid-October, this service will collect data across Twitter on specific television shows. It will include 'unique audience' that will measure the number of individuals who viewed tweets and retweets related to specific shows, as well as 'unique authors'. Unique authors will help understand normal people tweeting and how they relate to specific brands, channels, and even TV programs. Broadcasters might even be able to see how many people tweeted about a specific show per minute. As a result broadcasters will have a better idea on how their television show is being received.

Clearly, TV ratings do not provide any insight into how the audience engaged and received the show, with TV ratings audiences are seen as just numbers. Now they will actually have a voice, broadcasters will be able to measure their audience more accurately through their tweets.Could this mean that a TV show that doesn't have high TV ratings but a strong fan base that use Twitter a lot would be saved from being cancelled?

This new Twitter metric will end up being a massive advantage for broadcasters; not only will it provide unparalleled insight into their audience but it may even help them improve their own television show. Furthermore, this insight might help marketers promote the televison show on Twitter, showing them which tweets work best and which tweet promotes the show the best.

Kantar Media is definitely taking a step into the future of television shows, and maybe in a few years time this particular way of measuring audience's reaction will also extend to Facebook and Tumblr.

Laura Veit

Laura is a recent graduate from University of East Anglia in Film and Television Studies, currently interning as a content writer but hoping to one day live off her writing. Follow her @LauraAtSMF.

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