The shows, people and brands that drove social TV in 2012 [infographic]

By Natan Edelsburg 

The end of the year is upon us. Bluefin Labs just came out with their deep look at the shows, people and brands the drove social TV in 2012. From the election, to the Olympics, to Love & Hip Hop and the X Factor here’s a look at the biggest social TV successes of the year.

Social TV had its biggest year yet, a 363% year over year growth according to Bluefin. Additionally, “in 2012, consumers generated 874M” social comments about TV, compared to 189 million in 2011. Here’s analysis from Bluefin and the infographic.

Highlights:

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2012 was the year social TV reached scale and took off: 363% Y/Y growth

Across all shows on all networks, consumer social TV activity grew by 363% in 2012 versus the previous year. In 2012, consumers generated 874M social media comments about TV telecasts, compared to 189M the previous year.

2012 was the year that Social TV analytics grew up: more insight

Social TV analytics emerged in 2011 and in its first year, development started with measuring volume of Tweets and Facebook posts associated with TV series, sports, and special events. In 2012, social TV analytics built upon this foundation and started to uncover more insights in the data, such as which types of people tend to comment on which shows, and which shows have the strongest social resonance to which brands. (See “Candy Lovers vs. Organic Food Enthusiasts” and “Top Brands” for The X Factor and Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta in the infographic as examples.)

Social TV standouts (Special Events): The Grammy Awards on CBS

While social TV grew a robust 363% Y/Y in aggregate, social TV activity for some shows grew at even steeper rates. The 2012 Grammy Awards on CBS grew 2,280% versus the previous year. In terms of pure volume, the 2012 Grammys generated 13.0M social media comments, making it the #1 most social TV telecast of the year.

Social TV standouts: FOX rules series programming

On the series programming front, FOX demonstrated its social strength by taking the Top 3 spots in Broadcast with: #1 The X Factor, #2 Glee, and #3 American Idol. The X Factor takes the #1 spot in series programming for a second year in a row. In 2012, it averaged 522K social media comments per new episode, which is quadruple its winning average for 2011 (132K social media comments per new episode).

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