Thursday’s Social TV Must-Reads (Feb. 7)
English: Zenith Space Commander 600, an early television remote control. The Space Commander 600 was available for color TV only. This particular design was offered between the years 1965 through 1972. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What do you need to know today?
In a surprise development, reports say NM Incite, the joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey that acquired SocialGuide late last year, is laying off most of its workforce and will focus on social-media analytics.
What’s next in kids entertainment and the second screen? Check out our Storify article to see what Kidscreen Summit-goers shared from the conference in New York this week.
The next battle in the Social TV market is at the point of the remote control. Read articles about efforts at GetGlue and EyeSight Technologies to make it easier to be social with the remote.
Yesterday was college football’s national signing day for high school players and Twitter was ablaze with the #NSD hashtag. Smart advertisers were re purposing Super Bowl content into sponsored tweets.
Check out these stories and so much more, including articles on TV highlights and ratings, industry financials, content, and the Latin market on our daily Social TV Must-Reads. Just click the link. Tell us what you think!
TV Highlights Tonight
“Community” returns for a fourth season at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC, going against a new episode of “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS, then at 8:30 it is “Parks and Recreation” on NBC against “Two and a Half Men” at CBS. At 9 on NBC, new episode for “The Office.” What will buzz?
- Tonight on TV, via LA Times http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-thursdays-tv-highlights-community-on-nbc-20130206,0,2337500.story
- Tonight on TV, via USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/02/06/bianco-critics-corner/1896115/
TV Ratings
CBS was the No. 1 network for adults 18-49 and with total viewers on Tuesday as “NCIS” was down 3 percent from last week. On NBC, “Betty White’s 2nd Annual 90th Birthday Special” was down 44 percent from last year’s special. The two-hour season premiere of Smash was down a staggering 71 percent from last year.
Social Media
- Social TV meets video chat in Rabbit app
Rabbit merges multi-person video chat with the ability to share the programming for watching in real-time together with friends via webcam. Content is limited to YouTube or Hulu, not VOD, Netflix or iTunes and it’s in closed beta.
Read more http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/2013/02/social-tv-meets-video-chat-in-rabbit-app.html
- GetGlue gives its iPhone app more TV show content and promoted posts, plans remote control features
“The question remains as to whether any players in the social TV app space can usurp Twitter as the go-to place for social TV. . . Whoever builds the most compelling ‘social remote control’ app will probably have the best chance of hanging on to users in the long run.”
Read more http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/02/07/getglue-iphone-app-refresh/
- How Bluefin Will Help Twitter Ride The Social TV Wave
A BI Intelligence interview with Tom Thai, vice president of marketing and business development at Bluefin last week, before the news of the Twitter acquisition.
Read more http://www.businessinsider.com/how-bluefin-sees-mobile-social-tv-22013-2
Advertising
Word-of-Mouth Goes Mainstream, Is Now Measureable
“TV and traditional online platforms, not online social-media networks, are the dominant drivers of word-of-mouth conversations. Perhaps the greatest achievement of social media has been to turn marketers’ attention to the virtue of “shareability.”
By Ed Keller, CEO of Keller Fay Group and guest columnist on Ad Age http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/word-mouth-mainstream-measureable/239501/
Technology
EyeSight’s gesture technology turns your finger into a TV remote
EyeSight Technologies, an Israel-based company that focuses on digital interaction, announced today its all-new fingertip tracking technology. The company calls this the “world’s first commercial gesture technology to allow users to control digital devices with a fingertip.”
Read the article http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57567736-1/eyesights-gesture-technology-turns-your-finger-into-a-tv-remote/
Content
- The options explode for TV content over Internet
While a hardy few have “cut the cord,” more viewers are supplementing their cable or satellite subscriptions with content from Web-based providers such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or Hulu. A how-to with a list.
America’s most trusted TV news outlet? It’s Fox News – with a catch
PPP’s annual “TV News Trust Poll” found that 34 percent of Americans identified Fox as the single news outlet they trusted the most. But even more Americans identified Fox News as the outlet they trusted least.
Read more http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/02/americas_most_trusted_tv_news.html
Hardware Makers
Sony reports net loss of $115 million in Q3 2012 earnings
Projected sales for TVs and cameras both fell by 1 million each.
Read the article http://www.slashgear.com/sony-reports-net-loss-of-115-million-in-q3-2012-earnings-07268444/
Sports
Super Bowl Wednesday? 5 Brands Still Buying Twitter Ads
MiO, Tide, KIA Sports, GoPro and Adobe’s Marketing Cloud are running Promoted Tweets -— with left-over copy from the big game —- for the hashtag “#NSD,” which has been a trending topic throughout Wednesday due to scores of tweet chatter around college football’s National Signing Day.
Read the article http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/super-bowl-wednesday-5-brands-still-buying-twitter-ads-147087
Latin Market
Study: Hispanic consumers look to social for product issues
Some 57% of Hispanics have turned to the social space to ask a question about a brand or report complaints/issues with products; about 47% of the general population does this, according to a report from NM Incite.
Read the article http://www.bizreport.com/2013/02/study-hispanic-consumers-look-to-social-for-product-issues.html#
Social TV Daily publishes a daily roundup of news articles from across the Internet. Excerpts are drawn from the content and full URLs are included.
