We all know that Twitter is a big TV driver, thanks to the open nature of the platform and the company’s relentless efforts to work with the industry. But Facebook has always been a bit of a mystery. The majority of interactions on Facebook are private, and until recently, its search product has been essentially useless. But we all know that Facebook maintains a tremendous reach advantage over Twitter.
In fact, a Nielsen survey — conducted in September — reveals that Facebook’s influence in getting someone to watch a TV show outpaces Twitter by more than a 3:1 margin. Platforms like GetGlue, Viggle and IntoNow barely registered on the survey, posted today by eMarketer:
Now, in surveys like these, scale is everything, and the platform itself — the degree at which it motivates viewers — really doesn’t play a role in the results. So it’s not a knock on Twitter or other second-screen players, rather it emphasizes the tremendous footprint of Facebook.
The survey also asked viewers how they talk about TV:
Again, Facebook registers high on the scale, but old school conversations and texting still dominate, which agrees with other surveys we’ve seen.