Instagram hype to be included in the future as well

Jan 21, 2016 13:15 GMT  ·  By

Nielsen, the US company that provides total audience measurement services, has announced the inclusion of Facebook data as a factor in determining TV ratings, thus expanding the company's social support that previously included only Twitter.

This new data will be provided separately from audience stats gathered from TV boxes and will be offered via Nielsen's Social Content Ratings index, which was previously available under the name of Twitter TV Ratings.

Facebook joins Twitter as the second social network to be factored in for TV ratings

Twitter TV ratings were introduced first in 2013, when movie execs wanted to gauge the impact of their shows on social media.

Only Twitter was included in the first stage, mainly thanks to the network's open API and the large number of open accounts.

TV ratings on Facebook were also harder to get by because most Facebook users had their accounts set as private, and Facebook's API didn't allow gathering data from their timelines.

This changed in recent months, after Facebook introduced its Trends feature. Additionally, the company also drew Nielsen's attention this summer, when it put out a study showing that Facebook usage in the US peaked at the same time as Nielsen recorded the highest TV ratings.

Besides the Facebook buzz, Nielsen also plans to add Instagram support in the upcoming months. Instagram is a social network that Facebook acquired in 2012.

Facebook should provide more accurate results

In its last quarterly report, Facebook was bragging about having 1.55 billion monthly active users. Twitter only has around 300 million, meaning Facebook should theoretically provide more accurate results regarding TV watching habits.

Unlike Facebook, though, Twitter is famous for its live-tweeting marathons, common for both live sports events and TV shows.

Nielsen says it will be watching Facebook data for a show's regular broadcasting hours, but also all during the day, specifically to take into account delayed viewing, a common practice thanks to TiVo devices, and online streaming services like Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and the rest.