Nielsen Study Links Twitter Conversations with TV Ratings

Nielsen has released findings that for the first time ever provide statistical evidence for a "two-way causal influence" between broadcast TV tune-in for a show and the Twitter conversation around that program.

The study analyzed minute-to-minute trends in Nielsen's Live TV Ratings and Tweets for 221 broadcast prime-time program episodes using Nielsen's SocialGuide. The findings show that Live TV Ratings had a statistically significant impact in related tweets among 48 percent of the episodes sampled. Also, the volume of tweets caused statistically significant changes in Live TV Ratings among 29 percent of the episodes.

“Using time series analysis, we saw a statistically significant causal influence indicating that a spike in TV ratings can increase the volume of Tweets, and, conversely, a spike in Tweets can increase tune-in,” said Paul Donato, the chief research officer at Nielsen. “This rigorous, research-based approach provides our clients and the media industry as a whole with a better understanding of the interplay between Twitter and broadcast TV viewing.”