• by Wayne Friedman , February 2, 2017

TV and Twitter continue to have a special relationship -- with TV shows dominating an overwhelming majority of Twitter trending topics in prime time.

In one recent fall study, TV programs, on ad-supported networks, accounted for 64% to 88% of prime-time top trending topics on social-media platforms, says the Video Advertising Bureau. The amounts to 437 unique TV topics from 97 ad-supported TV programs on 46 networks, with 47 TV topics trending number one during the period

The VAB says that on average, more than seven ad-supported TV programs and 15 TV topics trended in the top 10 at some point every night. On some nights, as many as 12 different ad-supported TV programs are in top 10 in prime time.

Sports accounted for 68% of TV topics, with entertainment at 25% and news at 6%.

The VAB looked at trending topics from October 10 to November 6 on the social media network every night for four weeks. It analyzed four points in time -- 8:15 p.m., 9:15 p.m., 10:15 p.m., and 11:15 p.m.

The VAB is a TV industry trade group representing major TV companies that own networks -- broadcast and/or cable.