Facebook gets big like in social TV leadership


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Editor

| 25 October 2015





Research from analyst TDG into who’s leading social TV has given Facebook the big thumbs up over arch-rival Twitter.


The analyst believes that social TV activities – which it defines as the use of social media platforms to discuss, comment on or enhance the television experience – are quite common among today's connected consumers and the next few years will see the transformation of social TV interactions, with Facebook overtaking Twitter as the chosen medium for social TV activity.

The report also points out that more than half (55%) of adult social network users chat with their friends about TV shows at least a couple of times per year, while 35% do so monthly and 19% do so daily.

Yet the report also stresses that while to date social TV interactions have been primarily fan-driven, they will increasingly take a backseat to interactions around paid placements made by the TV networks. Alan Wolk, TDG senior analyst and author of The Future of Social TV: Strategic Insights report report, said that Facebook will be the primary beneficiary of this shift. "It already enjoys a much larger user base than other platforms, and it is the only platform with census-level user numbers. This will spur TV networks to put a majority of their social media dollars into Facebook, which has five times the user base and a much wider demographic reach than Twitter."

Wolk also noted that going forward consumers will likely spend less time viewing live TV broadcasts, turning to time-shifted viewing instead. He predicted that those engaged in social TV conversations would be less likely to require real-time interaction, as a result making real-time platforms like Twitter less relevant and indeed decline slowly. TDG predicted that the time users spend on Twitter will decline by 31% between 2015 and 2025, taking on a less important role, especially when compared with its current position as the platform by which many network digital departments measure success.