Thursday’s Social TV Must Reads (March 7)
Duck Dynasty glassware (Photo credit: jmb1977)
A&E’s ‘Duck Dynasty’ continues to amaze and ignite social conversations with over 300,000 mentions around last night’s show, edging ‘American Idol,’ with slightly under 290,000 mentions.
Tonight, Idol and Glee go back-to-back on Fox. Will that dominate the social conversation?
Today, marketers and users will get to see what challenges Facebook will be throwing in their way or enabling amazing new things with the rollout of its redesign of the venerable news feed. Will that encourage weary users to head for the exits or devote more of their time to Twitter?
Meantime, Mike Proulx, author of “Social TV,” is writing about Twitter and TV and that certainly qualifies as a must-read. Click the link and check that out as well as our daily compilation of social TV must reads with media news, TV, advertising, sports and the Latin market and so much more.
Top Stories
- The State of TV’s Twitter Backchannel
Mike Proulx wrote the book on Social TV, so you should really read his piece on Twitter and TV:
“While the state of TV’s Twitter backchannel is strong, there’s a risk of it becoming inundated with seemingly random brands’ advertisements in the form of overly forced attempts at snarky one-liners. But perhaps that’s just another indication of mainstream recognition that Twitter goes hand-in-hand with television.”
View the story, via Clickz http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2252890/the-state-of-tvs-twitter-backchannel
- Facebook’s new news feed: What to expect
Facebook will detail the redesign of its news feed in a press conference early Thursday afternoon on the East Coast. The redesign will reportedly give users new ways to catch up with what friends are doing, such as sorting through photos they share or music they are listening to, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Read the article, http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-facebook-redesign-03072013,0,6058126.story
Our Take on Last Night’s Social TV Buzz
Fox’s American Idol was the most-mentioned broadcast program on TV last night with 117,622 people sharing 288,959 mentions on Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Viggle as the top 10 men made their first live appearance. On cable, A&E’s ‘Duck Dynasty’ spawned 325,599 mentions by 183,753 people, according to Trendrr stats this morning.
On Twitter, 181,000 people shared 306,636 mentions about ‘Duck Dynasty’ while the NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets logged some 369,000 tweets by 145,239 uniques, according to SocialGuide.
For the day, some 1.3 million uniques shared 2.6 million tweets about 1,075 TV shows, SocialGuide said. Some 223,297 tweets were shared from 10:15-10:29 p.m. ET.
TV Tonight
- ‘Big Bang,’ ‘Person of Interest,’ ‘Glee’
Glee airs its 500th musical number on tonight’s episode on Fox at 9:30 ET, a half-hour later than usual due to a special 90-minute edition of American Idol (8 ET/PT).
Read the article, via USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/03/07/bianco-march-7-critics-corner/1965145/
- ‘The Ben Show’ on Comedy Central
New sketch comedy show featuring low-key comedian Ben Hoffman is an odd hybrid (and definitely an acquired taste). Things work best when Hoffman talks with his therapist, family members or people on the street. Also, anyone who is easily offended should probably steer clear. 10 p.m. Thursday on Comedy Central.
NY Times via Seattle Times http://seattletimes.com/html/television/2020500500_tvpicks07xml.html?prmid=head_main
- ‘The Big Bang Theory’
New episode at 8 p.m. on CBS
Content
‘Duck Dynasty’ And The Robertson Clan: The Formula For Their Success
The show’s secret weapon is Jase, whose talking-head interviews have only gotten more and more amusing since the show began. I don’t know if he gets help writing his material, but I’d lay odds that he comes up with a lot of it, and his delivery, which manages to be laconic and mildly agitated at the same time, is what sells these sharp monologues anyway.
Read the article, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-ryan/duck-dynasty_b_2820874.html
TV Ratings
- TV’s Midseason Ratings Catastrophe
Nearly all of the 2012-13 midseason entries have drowned so far and, with the exception of Fox’s renewed Kevin Bacon hit ‘The Following,’ have done so in rather gruesome fashion.
Read the article http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tvs-midseason-ratings-catastrophe-426073
- ‘American Idol’ keeps dropping, ‘Smash’ down
CBS’s NCIS fell 3% from last week to 3.3, but was easily the most watched show of the night with 20.35 million viewers at 8pm.
Read the article http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a463801/tuesday-ratings-american-idol-keeps-dropping-smash-down.html
Twitter v Facebook
For Social Media Viewing, Twitter Is Live TV; Facebook Is DVR
Danny Sullivan write: “In the end, the real judge is the Facebook user. If they’re not getting the content they want, they’ll move on to something else. And, getting what they want is going to require changes to news feed, because how we share and what we share continue to change.”
Read the article, http://marketingland.com/social-media-viewing-twitter-live-tv-facebook-dvr-35361
Advertising
- Twitter Ads Get DVR-Like Buying Platform
Adweek explainer on TBG Digital’s Calendar Live platform.
Read the article http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/twitter-ads-get-dvr-buying-platform-147754
- Are News Ratings Key to Monetizing?
WTHR is one such success story. The station transformed its news culture from one based on the scheduled daily newscasts to one based on a 24/7 news cycle that includes the website, mobile apps and active social media, says the digitally conscious Cardenas who is as likely to refer to the station’s “fan base” as he is to its viewership.
Read the article http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/65993/are-news-ratings-key-to-monetizing-digital
- Twitter out to prove value of sponsored tweets
The company – which has just announced it passed the milestone of 200 million active users, doubling its traffic in a year – this week released a study showing the effect on a user of seeing a sponsored tweet in their stream, even if that user did not click on a link, retweet or reply to the brand – the three core outcomes for which Twitter typically charges its advertisers.
Read the article http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/digital/twitter-out-to-prove-value-of-sponsored-tweets/story-fna03wxu-1226592602830
Hardware
- Samsung Throws Lifeline to Sharp as Focus Shifts to OLED
Samsung Electronics Co.’s investment in struggling Sharp Corp. signals that the world’s top seller of TVs is accelerating a shift toward higher-end sets using OLED technology as it tries to widen the gap with Sony Corp. The South Korean company will acquire 3 percent of unprofitable Sharp for 10.4 billion yen ($111 million) to secure liquid-crystal displays for smartphones and televisions.
Read the article http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-06/samsung-throws-lifeline-to-sharp-as-galaxy-maker-focuses-on-oled
- Aereo TV: Barely Legal By Design
To preserve the “fair use” defense of the Betamax and Cablevision cases, however, it does so by maintaining hundreds of thousands of tiny antennas (each about the size of a dime) — one for each of its customers. It’s just like having your own antenna and a DVR at home, the company argues, except that the antenna and the DVR are both remote, and you control both through the Internet and not your television. It’s not just timeshifting. It’s “placeshifting.”
Read the article http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/aereo_tv_barely_legal_by_desig.html
Sports
NASCAR should start 24/7 network to fill void created by Fox Sports 1
Whether it is one year from now, or two or five, let there be no doubt that a void will be created. Fans accustomed to turning to Speed to get caught up on all the NASCAR news and happenings will likely over time be left out in the cold.
Read the article http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2013/3/6/4071900/speed-nascar-television-cable-channel
Latin Market
- Univision Deportes adds 23 MLS games to broadcast schedule
Univision is giving fans what they want: more soccer.
The broadcast company announced Wednesday that it will broadcast an additional 23 MLS regular-season matches on its new sports network, Univision Deportes Network (UDN). The MLS games on UDN will begin Saturday at 6 pm ET, when the Colorado Rapids host the Philadelphia Union in their 2013 season opener at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Read the article http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/03/06/univision-deportes-adds-23-mls-games-broadcast-schedule
- Telemundo Media and Warner Music Latina Launch Partnership
Warner Music Latina will work with Telemundo to sign, market and promote Latin music stars. Warner Music Latina will oversee all musical aspects, and Telemundo will run multi-platform promotional campaigns on its networks, Telemundo and mun2, as well as its local and digital properties.
Read the article http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/telemundo-media-warner-music-latina-launch-partnership/10410681
Social TV Daily publishes a daily roundup of news articles across the Internet. Excerpts are drawn from the content and full URLs are included.
