Nielsen acquires social TV tracker SocialGuide

By Alex Weprin 

Nielsen and NM Insight, a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey and Company, has acquired social TV tracking firm SocialGuide. Terms of the agreement were not immediately available. Brooklyn-based SocialGuide has focused a substantial amount of its efforts on Twitter, which has become the de facto home for real-time conversation surrounding television. SocialGuide’s platform tracks conversations around more than 30,000 programs, across 232 English and Spanish-language channels.

“SocialGuide is thrilled to be part of the Nielsen/NM Incite family,” SocialGuide founder Sean Casey told Lost Remote. “The acquisition represents a great milestone for our company.  The opportunities that lay ahead of us as part of the larger Nielsen/NM Incite are vast and our focus will continue to be on driving value for our broadcast, cable and agency partners through SocialGuide Intelligence.”

Nielsen, the ratings-juggernaut, has been making a push into social TV tracking over the past few years, but has so far not gained the foothold that it has hoped for. We even predicted Nielsen would make a social TV data acquisition this year, and companies like SocialGuide certainly help bolster the company’s presence in the social arena as it prepares to expand its multi-platform measurement products. SocialGuide also helps the company with its bread and butter product: measuring live TV viewing. Given SocialGuide’s focus on real-time measurement, it would seem to fit in nicely with Nielsen’s portfolio of products.

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(RELATED: What Nielsen’s acquisition means for the social TV industry)

“The skyrocketing adoption and use of social media among consumers is transforming TV-watching into a more immediate and shared experience. As TV networks see this phenomenon unfold, they require understanding of the impact of social TV on their programming, ratings and advertising effectiveness,” said Steve Hasker, President, Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen in a statement. “Nielsen’s expertise in creating industry standard consumer measurement means we are uniquely suited to establish a deeper understanding of today’s highly-engaged consumers through social TV metrics. We are thrilled by the addition of SocialGuide to our portfolio and welcome them to Nielsen.”

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