01/01/2016

Whatyouneedtoknowaboutunderstandingtelevisionaudiences

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https://www.brandwatch.com/2015/08/measuringyoursocialaudienceiseasyright/

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Marketing: Understanding
Television Audiences on Social
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Asabroadcasteroradvertiser,therearecountlesswaystoresearchyouraudience,bothonlineandoffline.
Itcanhowever,beachallengetoestablishwhichdisciplinesarebesttoaccuratelyanalyzeyouraudience,especiallyasaudiencebehavior
ischangingsorapidly.
Marketershavelongreliedonmarketresearchtodecidewhereandhowtheyshouldspendtheiradvertisingdollarsonradio,printand
televisionadvertisements.
Overtime,however,traditionalresearchpracticeshavereceivedalotofcriticism.DiarybasedradioratingsintheUS,forinstance,may
inflateradiolistenership,becausetheyareonlymeasuredin15minutechunks.
IntheUK,BARBsTVratingsareinthemostbasicsense,arelikeapoll.
Theyaskapproximately5,100families(whichthecompanyclaimsfullyrepresentstheTVwatchingpublic)toturnontheirinhomeTV
measurementboxesonadailybasis,allowingthemtoanalyzeviewersbehavior.

Butisthissamplebigenoughtorepresentbehavioralpatternsofanationof65millionpeople,letalone320millionintheUSA?
AndwhataboutthetrendforpeopletowatchexclusivelyonlineratherthanviaTVs?

A new way of understanding television audiences

Inthepasttenyears,marketershavecraftednewskillsetsandhelpedmarketresearchtoevolverapidly.
MROCs ,listeningposts,webanalytics,behavioraleconomics,netnography,crowdsourcing,neuroscience,biometricsthesearejustafew

oftheemergingresearchtechniques.
Clearlywearemovingbeyondtheeraofmarketresearchthatonlyfocusesonaskingquestionsandmeasuringtheanswers.
Understandingthegender,interests,andprofessionsoftheirgeneralandprogramspecificsocialaudiencesisvaluabletonetworksfora
numberofreasons.
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Firstly,anetworkssocialaudiencemaybeaneffectiverealtimeindicatoroftheiractualviewers.Understandinganaudiencesbackground
isparamountforbothnetworksandadvertisersaimingtocreatetargetedprogramsorcontentforthoseviewers.
Furthermore,recognizingthedemographicmakeupofasocialaudienceisavitalcomponentofaneffectivesocialstrategy.
Identifyingwhatcontentsuccessfullyactivateswhichgroupsonsocialmedia,networkscanbetterunderstandtheirowncampaignefforts,
informingstrategiestoreachspecifictargetsdependingonthenetworksuniquegoals.

Backin2013,whenthefifthandfinalseriesofBreakingBadpremiered,weanalyzedover100,000mentionsandnoticedthatthetop
emoticonusedwasthesmileyface:),reinforcingthatthereactiontowardsthenewseriesofBreakingwasoverwhelminglypositive.
Wealsotookamoreindepthlookatthedatafromadifferentangle,todemonstratejusthownuancedyoucanbeinresearchusingsocial
media.
Ratherthanlookingatoverallvolumeandemotionmetrics,welookedintoaudiencebehavior,tryingtounderstandwhatconsumerswere
talkingaboutwhilewatchingtheshow.

Interestingly,twothirdsofallsweetrelatedconversationonTwitterindicatedthatpeoplewereeatingeithercupcakesorcakestogoalong
withthetheme.
Italsoappearedthatmethconsumersweretweetingalotmoreduringthesecondpartofthe5thBreakingBadseasonthanweedorany
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otherdrugusers,makingup93%oftheconversationthoughitshardtogaugehowmanyofthesewereserious.

MorerecentlytheMadMenfinaledrewin3.3millionliveandsamedayviewersmanyofwhomweretakingtosocialmediatodiscussitat
thesametime.
Fortodaysfans,ahugeportionoftheentertainmentandexcitementsurroundingtheirfavoriteshowlaysontheirsocialnetworks,enabling
themtosharetheirreactionswithfriendsandfellowfans.
Forboradcasters,thatconversationprovidesagreatopportunitytounderstandwhatdrivesemotionalreactionsfromtheiraudiencesandto
amplifythatexcitement.

Gathering a deeper understanding

Considerhowtheseinsightscouldbeappliedtogatheradeeperunderstandingofsharedaudienceinterests,demographicbreakdown,
minutebyminutecontentanalysisandotherrichinsightsthatarepotentiallyharvestablefromthisnewwaveofresearchtechniques.
Sowheredoesthatleavetraditionalresearchpractices?Doomedinsideabasementofestablishedresearchmethodsalongwithmisleading
orincorrectconclusions?
Perhapsnotitsmorelikelytheyllallbeusedinbeautifulharmonytocomplementoneanotherbutthereisamessageforallorganizations
navigatingmediachallengesmovingforward.AsMariaLuaraDiDomenicosays:

Corporate market researchers believe that the leading agency in 2020 is just as likely to be Google, Facebook or a company
from outside the industry as it is to be one of the old guard.
Measuringsocialmediadatacanhelpusunderstandtheattitudinalaspectandthiswillbecomeasubstantiallymoreimportantfieldtomonitor
astimesgoeson.
Socialmediaanalyticshaslongtermpotentialtosupplementwhatwiththewhy,andbemoregranularandonalargerscalethaneverbefore.

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Tags:BreakingBad,Research,researchpractices,smm,socialaudience,socialmediadata,socialmediameasurement,Socialmediametrics,
socialmediamonitoring,traditionalresearch,tvmeasurement

https://www.brandwatch.com/2015/08/measuringyoursocialaudienceiseasyright/

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