For years, Twitter and its rivals have been crowing about the power of social media to drive TV viewership.
Doubling down on these claims, new research from ShareThis shows a strong correlation
between social engagement and higher tune-in rates. Users who click on shared content about a particular TV series are nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to become viewers, the social sharing
service finds.
On average, 16% of viewers share about the shows they watch, but the percentages vary widely by genre. The social engagement rate among reality and variety show viewers is about
47%, while pure comedy shows only elicit an engagement rate of 9.5%.
New series inspire higher social engagement rates (about 25%, on average), compared to recurring series (about 13% on
average).
Also of note, streaming shows like those found on Netflix see double the social engagement rate of broadcast shows (about 31% compared to about 15% on average).
The timing of
social engagement appears to vary drastically by genre.
Most drama fans (34%) wait 24 hours until their shows end before yapping it up on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. Yet the
vast majority of reality and variety show viewers (70%) do most of their social engaging during the show.
Timing of device and channel usage also appears to vary drastically.
For
example, the use of tablets, smartphones, and Twitter spike during the broadcast of a show. Yet viewers’ preference for their desktops and Facebook increases with every hour following and
preceding a show’s broadcast time.
For its research, ShareThis coupled its own data -- drawn from some 46 million users and 153 million TV social signals -- with Nielsen’s TV
viewing data.