How is this golden age of streaming TV being measured? With cord-cutting and binge-watching, few people are tuning in live anymore. A few data providers have pioneered methods to measure this new form of TV viewing.
It’s become a widespread adoption for TV shows to have hashtags in the corner of the TV. Remarkably, some data companies have taken to tracking social interactions with hashtags, page follows and keywords in social posts. ListenFirst is a company that has been collecting this data from Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Wikipedia and Tumblr. Their methodology includes following all engagement, whether organic or paid, on a show’s verified social media account (except for Wikipedia). Essentially, the more a show is discussed, the higher the ratings.
ListenFirst isn’t the only one in this space and there are other services that are measuring TV success based on “social listening.” Other companies have similar offerings, like Shareablee. One thing that is unclear about social listening is whether this gives a better idea about audience size. For example, how are people who may be repeatedly tweeting about the same show measured; are they counted for each mention or counted as one person? Is the data combed through for on-topic sentiments only? As with traditional Nielsen TV ratings, perhaps these should also be taken with a grain of salt.
Speaking of ratings giant Nielsen, they have created their own way to measure streaming TV, specifically Hulu and YouTube. Their methods don’t include measuring their Nielsen families (jump back to part one if a refresher is needed: http://mediaunleashed.com/tv-ratings-serialized-part-1/ ). Instead, the content provider has a software-developer kit (SDK) integrated in the code of the player. Then, the data is matched with Facebook to determine the demographics of the viewer. As with their traditional methods, there is the possibility for inaccuracy. For example, people may not have a Facebook account or may not have correct information in their profile.
It’s curious that all shows, even those that are no longer on-air, are being measured. Additionally, Netflix shows are included in ratings even though advertising space is not for sale. It’s difficult to predict exactly what this means for advertisers. However, it appears the tide is changing and the traditional Nielsen broadcast TV ratings may not be the way success is measured or rates are determined in the future.