Study of social media and television finds correlations between Tweets and tune-ins

The biggest study conducted to date indicates social media is having an effect on what viewers watch on television.

Nielsen Research looked at the TV ratings of live events and Twitter activity for 221 prime time broadcast episodes, and found correlations between Tweets and tune-in surges.

In general, it’s thought that strong TV ratings would yield more Twitter activity, but the study also found that the volume of Tweets drove up live TV ratings in 29 per cent of the episodes included in the study.

According to the Nielsen report, TV viewers would change the channel specifically to live sports events. However, it did not follow the trend in all high-profile events.

For example, despite strong Twitter activity, there wasn’t a ratings spike for Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Lance Armstrong, nor was there one for the first airing of “Sharknado,” which had underwhelming ratings despite an explosion of Twitter conversation.

Ad Age magazine points out that the Nielsen Study was not all encompassing, as it didn’t take age demos into account for either factor.

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