Ad-supported TV outpaces SVOD in Twitter trending
Details
Michelle Clancy
| 14 December 2018

Live, ad-supported TV programming accounted for 84% of the total top 10 trending Twitter topics between 24 September and 21 October 2018, according to research from the Video Advertising Bureau.

The latest VAB Live TV report, which is the fourth in a series released since 2016, found online social conversations about ad-supported TV topics is growing and dominates discussion on Twitter even more than in past years.

For instance, the stats show that an ad-supported TV topic trended in the leading position on Twitter 27 of the 28 nights, during at least one of the four monitored points in time (8:30pm, 9:30pm, 10:30pm and 11:30pm). Also, 53 different ad-supported TV topics trended number one during primetime.

Programming from over 47 networks trended in Twitter’s top 10. This well outstrips streaming topics: overall, 87+ ad-supported TV programs trended in Twitter’s top 10 during the primetime analysis versus three for YouTube and two for Netflix.

Also, ad-supported TV accounts for over 80% of the media content trending in Twitter’s top 10; a majority (60%) of trending TV entertainment topics feature a specific ad-supported TV programme hashtag.

And unsurprisingly, at least one televised sporting event had a related topic trend in Twitter’s top 10 each night, with TV entertainment programming trending on 85% of the analysis nights.

“At first it’s the scale of nightly commitment to live, ad-supported TV that impresses,” said Sean Cunningham, VAB president and CEO, “But secondly - the fact that 84% is a new high for ad-supported TV among top-trending Twitter topics - just as the majority of TV viewers are using second screens while watching live – that’s the real boon for advertisers needing to mobilise customers every night.”