Nielsen Launches Demographics for Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings

Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, today announced the launch of demographic data for Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings. Delivered overnight for programming across over 250 U.S. TV networks, this never before available information enables the TV industry to precisely analyze the age and gender of both people who tweet (Authors) and see Tweets (Audience) about TV.

Initial analysis of Twitter TV demographics across 273 broadcast and cable program episodes reveals three important findings. First, there is a broad age and gender distribution across programming. Second, the analysis highlights significant differences in age and gender profiles across programming types. Third, and most importantly, the analysis highlights how Twitter enables TV networks and advertisers to reach audiences beyond their core demos.

Prior research had already demonstrated that on average, the people who see TV-related Tweets outnumber Twitter TV Authors by a 50-1 margin. This analysis now reveals that the Twitter TV Audience is more demographically balanced than Twitter TV Authors. For example, a program where Twitter TV Authors are 80 percent male may have a Twitter TV Audience that is 60 percent female. This indicates that Twitter TV can be used as an important tool to reach audiences beyond a program's core viewership.

"The nexus of television and social media offers tremendous opportunity to reach consumers," said David Shiffman, EVP of Research, MediaVest. "Metrics like these advance our ability to evaluate and measure the impact of those opportunities and complement our clients' TV investments with social activation that can improve overall marketing performance. Social TV audiences data is already enabling us to measure, understand and successfully activate in this space. As it matures, it will also provide a richer narrative about consumer viewing habits."

The gender of Twitter TV Authors for the programs analyzed ranged from 88 percent female to 92 percent male. The age distribution varied widely as well: the program skewing oldest counted 85 percent of its Twitter TV Authors above the age of 35, while the youngest-skewing program had 98 percent of its Twitter TV Authors below the age of 35. On average, the Twitter TV Authors for Sports Events skewed 79 percent male, while Reality programs skewed 65 percent female. Reality programs also had a younger mix of Twitter TV Authors: 75 percent below the age of 35 relative to just 63 percent of authors below 35 for Comedy programs. Detailed findings from the initial analysis are available here.

"The social TV phenomenon offers networks, advertisers and agencies an exciting opportunity to engage with consumers, amplify messaging, and build loyalty," said Deirdre Bannon, VP, Product, Nielsen Social. "In order to take full advantage of this opportunity, it is critical to understand who is participating in and being reached by the conversation. With demographic data now available for Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings, clients can build campaigns and engagement strategies that consider the audience reached by social TV activity and how that may complement or build on target audiences reached through traditional TV."

Demographics for Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are delivered overnight to the Nielsen National Television View (NNTV) and Nielsen SocialGuide Intelligence (NSGI) platforms at the episode, program, network, and total TV levels. Available age breaks include 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-54, 55+, and 18-49. Demographics for Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are based on publicly available information on Twitter, and are attributed on an anonymous or aggregated basis using a minimum group size to ensure privacy protection. They are produced via the exclusive, multi-year agreement that Nielsen and Twitter announced in December 2012.

More information about Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings and the new demographic data can be found at NielsenSocial.com.

ABOUT NIELSEN

Nielsen N.V. (NYSE:NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence and mobile measurement. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

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