Friday’s Social TV Must-Reads (Feb. 22)
A 3D "glass effect" version of the Peacock, currently in use in NBC promotional advertising (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For those who have declared Twitter the winner of the Social TV battle, the aftermath of Facebook pulling the plug on the Peacock network should be instructive. Yesterday, multiple reports said that NBC’s website had been hacked to spread a computer virus and that Facebook pulled access, not allowing users to share links to the network. Today, we were able to post an NBC link on our http://Facebook.com/socialTVDaily Page.
If that wasn’t enough to break out the Pepto at 30 Rock, February sweeps appear to have NBC at No. 5, trailing Univision. Not a good day.
But, we digress, as this weekend totally belongs to the Oscars. Every network, including C-Span will jump on the bandwagon, of course. After the Super Bowl, we wonder who will get the Oreos moment for real-time response.
The weekend means lots of sports to watch and talk about. On Sunday, Nascar opens its season with the Danica Patrick as the first woman to win pole position to start Daytona 500. Then, as word had it that the Big East has clinched its TV contract, college basketball winds down the regular season on the road to March Madness.
Check these stories and so much more. Read, share and let us know what you think!
Top Story
Facebook Pulls Access to NBC Website, Saying It’s Infected
[Friday update: NBC posts working on our FB accounts)]
NBC is working to fix its website after it was hacked to spread a Trojan virus that targets bank accounts. After a Dutch security researcher yesterday warned against visiting the NBC website, Facebook reacted swiftly, blocking access to it from its own site. The attack forced Facebook to suspend access to the site by its own users: Anyone who attempted it received a message saying, “This link has been reported as abusive.”
Read the article, http://www.fastcompany.com/3006169/where-are-they-now/facebook-pulls-access-nbc-website-saying-its-infected
TV Highlights
- “Out There” Series Premiere, “CSI:NY’s” Season 9 Finale, the Oscars, and “The Walking Dead”
Day-by-day schedule and highlights, via TV.com
Read the article http://www.tv.com/news/what-to-watch-this-weekend-out-theres-series-premiere-csinys-season-9-finale-the-oscars-and-the-walking-dead-30664/
- From the red carpet to C-SPAN, TV goes Oscars crazy this weekend
How much Oscar coverage is too much Oscar coverage? Well, let’s just say it’s going to be a long weekend. And when all is said and done, even C-SPAN will have had its say.
Read the article http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/tvradio/from-the-red-carpet-to-cspan-tv-goes-oscars-crazy-this-weekend-t38sfbb-192393331.html
TV Ratings
NBC Finishes Behind Univision in February Sweeps
February Sweeps just ended for the major networks. And also NBC. The Peacock, which had been flying high in the first half of the television season, plummeted to fifth place after the 20-day sweeps period that just ended. Fifth place? But aren’t there only FOUR major networks? There are, and NBC isn’t one of them. Taking its place is Univision, the Spanish-language network that averaged a 1.5 average rating in the adult demo during the sweeps period.
Read the article http://www.tv.com/news/news-briefs-nbc-finishes-behind-univision-in-february-sweeps-30669/
Ross Noble heads out on Twitter travel documentary
Ross Noble has landed a new comedy travelogue series for UKTV channel Dave, which will involve him being directed by Twitter users. “Ross Noble Freewheeling” will be a six-part series that puts the stand-up comic’s fate entirely in the hands of the public.
Read the article http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/news/a460917/ross-noble-heads-out-on-twitter-travel-documentary.html
Which TV shows have the most popular Facebook pages?
Rodney Ho of Access Atlanta does a little bit of Facebook research on the popularity of 100 shows.
Read the article http://www.accessatlanta.com/weblogs/radio-tv-talk/2013/feb/19/which-tv-shows-have-most-popular-facebook-pages/
Advertising
- ABC to rake in the moolah during Oscar telecast
Hyundai takes center stage on ABC for the fifth consecutive year as the exclusive automotive sponsor of the Oscars. It will air the most amount of spots. Nine ads will air: seven 30-second spots during the ceremony and two 30-second ads during pre-show coverage.
Read the article http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k13/feb/febmam108.php
- The Oscar money machine is in high gear
A win can mean millions more at the box office, and advertisers say the broadcast is almost as important as the Super Bowl. New social media technology has also helped revive Oscar’s fortunes among viewers. The Los Angeles Times reports that, after several lackluster years, more than 39 million people watched the broadcast in 2012 and that both marketers and broadcasters credit social media with creating “more buzz around the event.”
Read the article http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=0a04d5e6-ae81-4b4f-9ab5-ecd448138691
- Marketers aim for Oscar gold with ads
In an age of declining TV viewership, social-media saturation and elusive eyeballs, some major marketers remain convinced that they cannot miss out on major broadcast spectacles like the Super Bowl and the Oscars. Oscar ads fetched a record $1.71 million per 30-second slot this year, while Super Bowl ads hauled in about $3.8 million.
Read the article http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/02/21/oscar-advertisers-academy-award-commercials/1934167/
- Twitter’s marketing game-changer
For the first time, marketers can now manage Twitter ads from the same systems used to manage social listening, social content and social ads for other networks such as the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. In the same way that marketers can take an engaging Facebook post and turn it into a Sponsored Story on Facebook, they can now monitor engaging tweets and turn them into Promoted Tweets, further shattering the silos between paid, owned and earned media.
Read the article http://www.technologyspectator.com.au/twitters-marketing-game-changer
- Facebook at the core of a converged media model – social ads as proven means to social ROI
Expect the social ad market to mature in 2013, with leading brands allocating larger budgets and seeing greater ROI from their social advertising campaigns.
Read the article http://bostinno.com/channels/facebook-at-the-core-of-a-converged-media-model-social-ads-as-proven-means-to-social-roi/
- TV networks need to better their apps to tap social TV currency
The majority of social TV engagements are still happening on external social networks such as Facebook and Twitter rather than on proprietary apps. According to research from MagnaGlobal, 17% of people use external networks to chat online with friends about TV shows they like versus 2% who do the same using an audience participation app.
Read the article http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/social-tv-gets-data-dollars
Technology
What to Expect at Mobile World Congress 2013
The Mobile World Congress 2013 starts on Monday, and will bring a cavalcade of new phone and tablet announcements, not to mention lots of other cool mobile tech. We’re expecting quad-core phones aplenty, 1080p displays galore, more 4G than ever, and even some intriguing new operating systems.
Read the article http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2415690,00.asp
Sports
- Big East, ESPN close to 7-year TV deal, per report
The Big East Conference and ESPN are nearing a 7-year, $130 million TV deal, league sources told ESPN’s Brett McMurphy on Thursday. ESPN exercised its right to match any TV deal offered to the conference, and jumped at the opportunity to keep the league’s games on its networks instead of losing the rights to NBC Sports.
Read the article http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/2/21/4015802/espn-big-east-tv-contract
- Brad Keselowski shares vision for NASCAR’s future
“I know I’m considered a social media leader because I’m active on Twitter, but it’s much larger than Twitter. It’s about technology, because that is what’s driving my generation. Being able to text your friend and say, ‘Hey, I’m at the hot dog stand, do you want a hot dog?’ while they’re in your seat, and you’re in a line that took 30 minutes, you need to have service to do that.”
Read the article http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/1937443&usatref=sportsmod?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CSports%7Cp
- Vikings to conduct social media surveillance on future players
The Minnesota Vikings confirmed they are now conducting social media surveillance on athletes they’re interested in because of what happened with Manti Te’o.
Read the article http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/21303900/vikings-to-conduct-social-media-surveillance-on-future-players
Latin Market
Univision Communications Fourth-Quarter Financials Improve
“2012 marked a very important chapter in Univision’s strategic transformation from a single niche broadcast station more than 50 years ago to an influential multimedia company today,” said Univision CEO Randy Falco.
Read the article http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/univision-fourth-quarter-financials-improve-423004
Social TV Daily publishes this daily roundup of news articles across the Internet. Excerpts are drawn from the content and full URLs are included.
