Advanced Television

RESEARCH: Social media does boost TV

March 31, 2011

Marketers are increasingly spending time, money and creativity to reach their audiences in non-traditional ways.  A 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll on Social Media and Television has found that many Americans are participating in this type of interactions.  Among online US adults, two in five say they have gone online or utilised social media to comment, post, watch or read something about a television show or programme (43 per cent).  Among these 80-some million people, a third say they have done so after watching a TV show or programme (33 per cent) and fewer say they have done so either before watching (18 per cent) or while watching (17 per cent) a TV show or programme.

Younger online adults are much more likely to take part in these activities than are older people — six in ten of those 18-34 say they have engaged with TV programmes in this way (59 per cent), compared to fewer adults aged 35-44 (40 per cent), 45-54 (36 per cent) and 55 and older (28 per cent) who say the same.  When adults are doing these things also varies by age.  Three in ten of those 18-34 years (31 per cent) say they have gone online to do these activities while watching a TV programme, compared to very few adults 55 and older who have done the same (5 per cent).  Adults 55 and older, on the other hand, are most likely to go online after seeing a TV programme (22 per cent) if they are going to go online at all.

This poll also found that:
– Half of adults who engage with TV shows or programmes online (53 per cent) do so in an individual forum such as by posting on their own or a friend’s Facebook page, Twitter account or blog, 44 per cent do so on a website or page created by the TV content provider such as a TV network’s Facebook page or website, and a third (33 per cent) do so on a separate media outlet’s site, such as an entertainment or news site;
– Women are more likely than men to engage in an individual forum (57 per cent vs. 50 per cent), while men are more likely than women to do so on a separate media outlet’s site (38 per cent vs. 27 per cent);
– Younger adults are more likely than those older to engage individually while older adults are somewhat more likely to do so on a site or page created by the content provider;
– Two in five online adults are a fan or a follower of a TV network, programme or show on Facebook or Twitter (39 per cent) while the same number are not (41 per cent); one in five do not use Facebook or Twitter (20 per cent);
– Three quarters of adults who engage with TV programmes or shows online say that it provides more information, which is an important reason why they do it (76 per cent), two thirds say the analysis or summary is important to them (68 per cent) or it’s a source of additional entertainment, which is important (67 per cent); half say that it’s important that they engage with other viewers (51 per cent);
– All age groups are equally likely to place importance on finding additional information online (between 75 per cent and 77 per cent), but younger adults are more likely to place importance on engaging with other viewers (54 per cent of those 18-34 and 56 per cent of those 35-44 compared to 40 per cent of those 55 and older); and,
Among the online adults who do not comment, post, watch, view or read anything about TV programmes or shows online, six in ten say it’s because they don’t want or need to (60 per cent), a third say they don’t think about it (34 per cent), one in five say they don’t have the time (20 per cent) and fewer list privacy (12 per cent) or other reasons (7 per cent).

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, OTT, Research, Search/Recommendation