Facebook Delivers Viewer Engagement Reports To TV Networks

cagraham writes "Facebook has started delivering custom weekly reports to select TV networks, detailing the total amount of social interactions related to individual TV episodes.According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is using its data analytics to track the amount of times an episode is liked, shared, or mentioned each week. The data is then anonymized and delivered to networks. This comes a week after Twitter announced they were pursuing deals with major networks as well. Facebook may be trying to establish itself as a modern alternative to the traditional Nielsen ratings system, the current benchmark for gauging viewership."

Re:Breaking Bad

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to find new friends.

Not Scientific Sample

[Anonymous Coward]

Networks want people to watch their shows so those same people watch commercials. They want ratings from Nielsen so they have a well respected third party estimating the eyeballs each commercial gets to justify advertising rates. Facebook's report doesn't provide that.

Besides, this is clearly a self-selecting sample. There may be some tiny value to the networks in assessing popularity, but Nielsen Ratings will still remain king because they actually attempt to identify "C+3 ratings", the number of viewers who watch commercials within three days, via random sampling.

Re:Nielsen must be freaking out

[Joining Yet Again]

That was just the right length of post to say that Breaking Bad is even less worth watching than a Murder She Wrote re-run.

Re:Nielsen must be freaking out

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm honestly a bit surprised that Nielsen is still alive. They are the landline-polling of TV audience metrics. On the pure TV/content industry hell side, you've got things like Tivos and cable boxes, which tend not to leave HQ guessing about who is watching what(Remember Tivo's casual little announcement that 'nipplegate' was the most rewound event in history? What've you got, Nielsen?) On the internet side, you've got your assorted 'social' gatekeepers and search jockeys, who pretty much see every word you type a few hundred milliseconds after you do, and are thus well placed to see who's talking about what.

Where does the exhaustive sample of 'Nielson households' fit in here?

Re:Breaking Bad

[Anonymous Coward]

I had never even heard of Breaking Bad until the last few weeks when suddenly a stupid television show became front page news. Must be a slow news month, or more likely standards have just hit a new low for what passes as "news" these days.

Re:Breaking Bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Ummmm... watching one of the best shows ever rather than reality TV is GOOD thing. They might actually be people worth knowing.