Twitter and Nielsen's TV ratings to roll out today

Even as Facebook has announced that it will be making its analytics available to television networks in countries across the world, including India, Twitter's TV rating metric based on data from the micro-blogging website along with Nielsen will be rolling out today.

The programme was first announced back in December 2012 and is all set to be published for the first time today, according to The Wall Street Journal. Twitter had announced a tie-up with Nielsen, the TV ratings tracker, to come up with an industry-standard metric that tracked chatter about TV shows on the website.

The ratings will show not only which shows are most popular on Twitter but also how many tweets are being made specifying the show as well as how many accounts these tweets reach. These mentions and conversations being held in real time give TV networks a larger picture of how many people are not just watching but even talking about the show.

Twitter TV ratings rolling out today

Not surprisingly, even while Twitter announced the rollout of these long-awaited ratings, arch rival Facebook announced that it will be giving analytics to television networks around the world. The race is neck-in-neck currently and the battle of television ratings has only begun. The fall season of television shows is just beginning to air in the US and chatter will be heard over social media around the world. Television today is, after all, one of the very few things that puts most of the world on an equal footing. With torrents of shows being available almost as soon as an episode is aired in the US, the world manages to lap up episode after episode followed by taking to Facebook or Twitter to talk about it.

Even while Facebook has an edge in tracking analytics of this sort since it can provide a lot more information like which show is loved by which age group or is most watched in which country, Twitter has its own USP. As far as Twitter goes, it is still king of real-time conversation and data that comes out of it can be very content-centric. For example, while Facebook can tell you that Breaking Bad is most watched in the US and loved by males in the age group of 18-24, Twitter and Nielsen’s analytics may also be able to tell you how many people took to express their shock regarding a plot twist in real time.

For both social networking websites, the possibilities are endless and also raises the question of monetisation. With Twitter’s IPO looming ahead, the micro-blogging website will be pulling all stops to make the TV ratings work in order to drive in the money. According to the filings, Twitter isn’t profitable currently and the TV ratings product should hopefully put it in a better position to command respect and authenticity.

While Nielsen and Twitter have not mentioned the number of TV networks or advertisers that have signed up to be a part of the new ratings system, it already looks like a promising prospect for social television.