• by Wayne Friedman , May 25, 2012

Social media's influence continues to significantly add value to some shows -- especially those that don’t have the biggest ratings. The largest gains for this 2011-2012 broadcast season went to Fox’s “Glee," Comedy Central’s “South Park" and MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” per Optimedia’s Content Power Ratings.

Content Power Ratings are computed from a collection of research -- Nielsen Media Research's NTI database, comScore's Media Metrix, Video and Mobile Metrix, Facebook, Klout, Twitalyzer, Nielsen’s BuzzMetrics, Google Trends, Dow Jones Factiva, Bluefin Labs and GetGlue check-ins.

Optimedia’s Content Power Ratings value programs using three key criteria: audience delivery (traditional TV ratings and other viewing metrics on digital platforms), involvement (loyalty and overall awareness); and advocacy (recommendations and mentions in the press).

Optimedia says “Idol” again takes the top spot when it comes to including social media with ratings. This is the fifth time in a row it has been scored highest among these two measures since Optimedia began doing the report.

“Glee” took the second spot for the second year in a row,  according to Optimedia, as compared to its Nielsen viewership/rating rank, which sits at 74th place. “South Park” was in fifth place when including social media influence versus its 238th place in Nielsen measures of viewership; “Family Guy,” was in 7th place versus 102nd place, according to Nielsen; and “Jersey Shore” came in 8th place versus a 191st placing, per Nielsen.

Two other high-rated reality shows did well. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” came in third, it had a second place ranking for Nielsen. For “X-Factor,” social media influence pushed it to 4th place among all TV shows.