Today, Nielsen announced "Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings", a new technology that will measure the influence of social media on television broadcasts each week. According to their press release, "Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are available for TV programming across over 215 English-language U.S. broadcast and cable networks" and they are working directly with Twitter to incorporate Spanish-language networks into the fold.
Nielsen has also launched a weekly Top 10 list of socially active television shows through SocialGuide.com. A new list for the previous week (Monday through Sunday) will be released each Monday, with a three hour window on either side of a show's air time. ABC's season premiere of Scandal dominated the first list – September 30th through October 6th – with Saturday Night Live, The Voice, and X Factor all making appearances. Monday Night Raw did not make the top ten, which isn't a surprise as last week's episode had one of the lowest ratings scores in years.
This is great news for WWE, who has a major social media presence on Monday nights. WWE will be able to measure their influence on Twitter – which has a direct correlation to television ratings – with precise data for the first time. Of course, TNA will be able to do the same for Impact Wrestling on Thursday nights.
Check out SocialGuide.com for more information.
