Twitter’s Chloe Sladden (@chloes) spoke at yesterday’s Social TV Summit, and one of the highlights is her discussion around social media’s impact on TV ratings — one of the most popular topics at the event.
Just as Facebook is working with Nielsen, Sladden said Twitter recently shared a bunch of data with the ratings company. She shared an early glimpse into the results, which are still coming together. The earlier Nielsen “9% to 1%” study that linked social buzz with ratings did not include Tweets or Facebook status updates. When they’re included, Sladden said, the correlation with ratings is much stronger. “When you look at the volume of same-day Tweets about a show, it’s a significant factor in explaining that show’s ratings,” she said, teasing the crowd that they’ll be releasing data in the near future.
“If Nielsen’s our blood pressure, I’d like you to think of Twitter as our heartbeat. It’s the EKG of attention around a show,” she said, reinforcing the message that “Twitter is driving people to linear television.”
Sladden also showed some stats about Twitter and TV — for example, 50% of TV shows have their own Twitter accounts. She offered three challenges for 2012: 1) make Twitter engagement a peer to Nielsen ratings 2) program Twitter like you program your network and 3) invite your Twitter audience into the show itself.
Here’s a (slightly glitchy) video of her 30-minute presentation. She starts about a minute in.
Earlier: Facebook: We’re “pretty confident” we can help drive ratings