WATCHING WITH FRIENDS. How TV drives conversation on Facebook

Transcription

1 WATCHING WITH FRIENDS How TV drives conversation on Facebook A SECONDSYNC WHITE PAPER FEBRUARY 2014

2 WATCHING WITH FRIENDS Contents Introduction 3 Executive Summary 4 TALKING ABOUT TV 5 Real-time Engagement 6 Types Of Interaction 7 Different Engagement Patterns 8 SOCIAL TV PATTERNS 9 Genres Have Distinct Engagement Signals 10 Sport 11 DEMOGRAPHICS 12 Age And Gender 13 Devices 14 A Global Phenomenon 15 80% OF TV-RELATED CHATTER ON FACEBOOK COMES FROM A MOBILE DEVICE* THE TV AUDIENCE 16 Conversion 17 CONCLUSION 18 METHODOLOGY 20 APPENDIX 22 2 SecondSync Watching With Friends *Across all telecasts analysed for this paper

3 WATCHING WITH FRIENDS Introduction Social TV analytics has moved from the media lab to mainstream media research in just four years. SecondSync has played a leading role in pioneering the real-time, big data analysis of social interactions mapped to TV programmes, working with the UK s leading broadcasters and advertising agencies. The company is now spearheading the next stage in the evolution of social TV analytics. This white paper the early fruit of that innovation drive presents the initial findings of a major study, using SecondSync s social listening technology and social TV expertise to analyse total discussion levels on the Facebook platform in the US, UK and Australia. This is the first in-depth analysis of Facebook s social TV data across multiple territories, and the first time Facebook has released social TV analytics to the industry at this scale. The huge volumes of public conversations on Twitter have meant that until now social TV has largely been synonymous with one social network. SecondSync s findings offer an additional perspective, one that is able to draw on Facebook s rich demographics, broad reach, and multiple interaction types. My hunch is we ll be debating the efficacy of each platform well into 2014 and beyond because they are different and we use them differently. As other social platforms emerge SecondSync will further broaden the sources of its social TV analytics, and present a more nuanced view based on different platform functionalities, and ever-changing audience behaviours. It all points to a more complex, but at the same time even more exciting future for social TV analytics. Graham Lovelace Non-executive director, SecondSync Limited Director, Lovelace Consulting Limited This is the first in-depth analysis of Facebook s social TV data across multiple territories, and the first time Facebook has released social TV analytics to the industry at this scale 3 SecondSync Watching With Friends

4 WATCHING WITH FRIENDS Executive Summary Contrary to previous assumptions, most TV-related Facebook Posts happen within the show airing. Up to a quarter of the TV audience is posting content related to the show they are watching on Facebook. The scale of social TV chatter seen on Facebook corresponds to the broad reach of the social network. Posts are the catalyst for TV-related conversations that continue in the form of Comments. 80% of TVrelated chatter on Facebook comes from a mobile device. 4 SecondSync Watching With Friends

5 TALKING ABOUT TV 5 SecondSync Watching With Friends

6 TALKING ABOUT TV Real-time Engagement The fact that people talk about TV on Facebook has never been in doubt. However, it has often been assumed that TV-related Facebook interactions happen outside the show airing and not in real-time. Our analysis challenges this assumption. Looking at a minute by minute breakdown of anonymised aggregated TV-related Facebook interactions it is clear that audiences are talking about TV while they are watching it. The majority of TV-related activity happens during the show and we see huge peaks of activity that map directly to key events in the telecast. 60% OF DAILY FACEBOOK INTERACTIONS ABOUT A TV SHOW OCCUR DURING THE AIRING* INTERACTIONS 4,477,454 INTERACTIONS 7,084,697 INTERACTIONS 1,987,972 FINAL SCENE FINAL SCORE THE KILLERS PERFORMANCE BREAKING BAD AMC 29TH SEPTEMBER 2013 CHIEFS VS COLTS NFL PLAYOFF NBC 4TH JANUARY 2014 X FACTOR UK ITV 14TH DECEMBER SecondSync Watching With Friends *Across all telecasts analysed for this paper

7 TALKING ABOUT TV Types of interaction We looked at how TV audiences engage with shows using four different types of Facebook interaction: Posts, Comments, Likes and Shares. Each type exhibited distinct repeating patterns of engagement that were consistent across the TV schedules. THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE NBC 5TH DECEMBER 2013 INTERACTIONS 7,348,936 CIs 65% TIs 35% POSTS (501,073) Posts are most closely aligned to real-time TV events. COMMENTS (2,097,815) The bulk of TV conversations are contained in Comments. LIKES (4,730,608) Interactions from Likes of TV-related content have a long tail of engagement. SHARES (19,440) Shares are used less in TV chatter than the other interaction types. CIs VS TIs For The Sound of Music Live there were more click interactions than text interactions 7 SecondSync Watching With Friends

8 TALKING ABOUT TV Different engagement patterns Viewers use Posts to start conversations that cluster around events in the show. In turn, Posts often seed huge volumes of Comments and Likes that have broader peaks of engagement which are sustained for a much longer time period as friends continue discussions long after the show has aired. THE WALKING DEAD AMC 13TH OCTOBER 2013 INTERACTIONS 6,682,474 POSTS 11% COMMENTS 21% LIKES 67% SHARES 1% :00 TRANSMISSION WINDOW 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 8 SecondSync Watching With Friends

9 SOCIAL TV PATTERNS 9 SecondSync Watching With Friends

10 SOCIAL TV PATTERNS Genres have distinct engagement signals We analysed many types of shows and by visualising the results we were able to identify distinct patterns of engagement that are consistent across different genres. These genre differences reflect the nature of the content and demographics of the audience. DRAMA Dramas generate a bookend pattern of engagement with Facebook activity peaking at either end of the telecast. COMPETITIONS Posts around competition shows map directly to performances. DOCUMENTARIES Documentaries are a catalyst for Posts that generate high volumes of conversation in Comments. FILMS Films are big drivers of social engagement. Iconic scenes from films tend to drive the biggest peaks in engagement. DAYTIME Tabloid talk shows also drive real-time conversations with guests generating significant Facebook reaction. DR WHO BBC 23RD NOVEMBER 2013 DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 BOUNCERS C4 5TH SEPTEMBER 2013 INSIDIOUS C4 7TH SEPTEMBER 2013 JEREMY KYLE ITV 5TH SEPTEMBER SecondSync Watching With Friends

11 SOCIAL TV PATTERNS Sport Sport is a huge driver of engagement across all interaction types. For instance, 2014 s Super Bowl generated 185 million Facebook interactions from 50 million unique users. However, it s not just marquee finales like this that are able to generate significant volumes of engagement. As can be seen below, patterns of engagement map directly to events on the field with the biggest volumes of interaction seen after big plays, controversial officiating decisions and directly after the end of games. NFL PLAYOFF, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS VS KANSAS CITY CHIEFS NBC 4TH JANUARY 2014 The Colts achieve the second biggest comeback in NFL Playoff history, coming from 28 points down to beat The Chiefs INTERACTIONS PER MIN 51,003 INTERACTIONS PER MIN 62,583 19:52 Luck throws a touchdown to put The Colts ahead for the first time INTERACTIONS PER MIN 158,171 20:05 Final score 19:27 Luck recovers a Colts fumble and dives for a touchdown 11 SecondSync Watching With Friends

12 DEMOGRAPHICS 12 SecondSync Watching With Friends

13 DEMOGRAPHICS Age and gender Facebook has a very broad user base that is spread across all demographics. Using the depth of demographic information coming from anonymised, aggregated Facebook data we can see which segments of the TV audience are most engaged and how that changes across the schedules. BREAKING BAD AGE AND GENDER BREAKDOWN SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE AGE AND GENDER BREAKDOWN FACEBOOK SOCIAL TV* AGE BREAKDOWN % % 65+ 3% % Interactions Interactions % % 13 SecondSync Watching With Friends *Across all telecasts analysed for this paper

14 DEMOGRAPHICS Devices In keeping with the concept of second screening, most TV-related engagement on Facebook occurs via a mobile device. Despite a trend towards mobile, the devices used to generate Facebook interactions vary depending on the genre of show, illustrating the contrasting social media habits of different demographics. 80% OF TV-RELATED CHATTER ON FACEBOOK COMES FROM A MOBILE DEVICE* Facebook.com in the browser is most popular with the News and Current affairs audience. Entertainment show interactions are more likely to be generated by mobile apps. 14 SecondSync Watching With Friends *Across all telecasts analysed for this paper

15 DEMOGRAPHICS A Global Phenomenon Using Facebook s detailed geo-location data we can accurately analyse activity by country and filter out chatter from other regions. Here we see total interaction figures for the X-Factor final across three different territories. INTERACTIONS 1,987,972 X FACTOR FINAL (UK) ITV 14TH DECEMBER 2013 INTERACTIONS 246,909 INTERACTIONS 265,447 X FACTOR FINAL (US) FOX 18TH DECEMBER 2013 X FACTOR FINAL (AUSTRALIA) 7 28TH OCTOBER SecondSync Watching With Friends

16 THE TV AUDIENCE 16 SecondSync Watching With Friends

17 THE TV AUDIENCE Conversion Because of Facebook s size (71% of adults online in the US 1 ) and broad demographic spread, interactions are generated by a group that is broadly representative of the general population. For a two week period we tracked all prime-time UK television-related interactions on Facebook.. We also looked at high profile, prime time shows in the US and Australia. We found that the number of individuals engaging with shows in real-time on Facebook accounted for a significant proportion of the TV audience when compared with ratings data. In some cases, this was almost a quarter of the TV audience. PERCENTAGE OF TV AUDIENCE INTERACTING WITH FACEBOOK 2 10% 19% 22% 24% UK X FACTOR FINAL ITV 14TH DECEMBER 2013 THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! NBC FRIDAY DEC 5TH 2013 THE WALKING DEAD AMC 13TH OCTOBER 2013 BREAKING BAD FINALE AMC 29TH SEPTEMBER SecondSync Watching With Friends 1 Pew Research Center, Social Media Update Calculated using publicly available average audience figures

18 CONCLUSION 18 SecondSync Watching With Friends

19 CONCLUSION Conclusion When looked at holistically, real-time activity around TV and Sport on the Facebook platform is hugely compelling and there are important commercial implications. Audience measurement, TV planning, content discovery, direct response advertising, TV commissioning and research are just some of the sectors that will benefit from the insights coming out of the world s biggest social network. TV is an important area for Facebook and it has been actively encouraging activity in this space for some time. Pages for shows, the adoption of the hashtag and the Watching status update have all contributed to the high volume of interactions. SecondSync will continue to work closely with Facebook to surface actionable insights. Areas of future research will include investigating the extent to which Facebook drives TV tune-in, measuring the reach of TV-related interactions, and looking at the effectiveness of Facebook calls to action in TV advertising. Areas of future research will include investigating the extent to which Facebook drives TV tune-in and measuring the reach of TV-related interactions 19 SecondSync Watching With Friends

20 METHODOLOGY 20 SecondSync Watching With Friends

21 METHODOLOGY Methodology SecondSync and Facebook worked together to make sure the data was of the highest quality without impacting on the privacy of Facebook users and clients. Using proven techniques established over three years of analysing social TV data, SecondSync generated complex search terms based on show titles, talent and narrative, which were then provided to Facebook. Facebook used these search terms to calculate anonymised statistics of total discussion volumes for the search terms, aggregated at telecast airing window, daily and minute level. In addition, Facebook used these search terms to randomly select a small number of anonymised public Facebook posts that SecondSync used to test the accuracy and quality of its search terms. Terms that did not pass QA testing were revised and re-submitted to Facebook. Facebook provided the resulting statistics to SecondSync for analysis and use in preparing this study. No private posts, user contact information or client advertising data whatsoever was made available to SecondSync by Facebook. Demographics and minute level data generated in this study came from a sample of high profile, predominantly prime-time shows, which aired between September 2013 and January 2014 in the UK, US and Australia. Chatter distribution statistics came from a study of 1500 prime-time UK TV shows, broadcast between 1st September 2013 and the 15th September SecondSync Watching With Friends

22 APPENDIX 22 SecondSync Watching With Friends

23 SAMPLE US SHOWS 23 SecondSync Watching With Friends

24 SAMPLE US SHOWS 24 SecondSync Watching With Friends

25 SAMPLE US SHOWS 25 SecondSync Watching With Friends

26 SAMPLE UK SHOWS 26 SecondSync Watching With Friends

27 SAMPLE UK SHOWS 27 SecondSync Watching With Friends

28 SAMPLE AUSTRALIAN SHOWS 28 SecondSync Watching With Friends

29 CONNECT SecondSync Ltd Gas Ferry Road Bristol, BS1 6UN UK +44 (0)