Nielsen Twitter TV Rating: How Will TNA Do?

[Zeven_Zion]

Hello guys. Your resident TNA mark here.

Alright, so I read this cool article about Nielsen incorporating a new paradigm - Twitter Ratings. It's already launched, they're still polishing it, but ultimately it measures a show's Twitter Rating by the amount of discussion there is about it on Twitter.

Whatever your thoughts are on the Nielsen Ratings System, I'd have to say that for me this is a pretty cool feature. Granted, it's already available with a few data analysis tools I've used in my job and this just has the "Nielsen" name stamped to it, but nonetheless I welcome any change toward incorporating social media into some kind of rating from the traditional mediums.

So, since TNA was the first wrestling company to really run with Twitter way back when, when it wasn't that popular, and they continue to push it through other means, such as having a couple of shows broadcasted on Twitter and so forth, how do you think TNA will do?

I'd make an identical thread in the WWE section too, but I see no point so feel free to talk about how WWE will fair too if you'd like.

In a more general note, how do you think both wrestling shows will compare to other shows in this Twitter Rating?

I think it's pretty cool, but I'm a social media nerd.

 

[das1234]

i dont get why this even matters.
dont get me wrong, i dont want to hate on social media, since the plugging is far less annoying and really acceptable by now.
but the only thing that social media would be good for is to create "buzz", getting people on these platforms to tune in and watch the show who wouldnt before right? but there already is a ratings system for the show itself, so why do we need a twitter rating?
the only use i can remotely see for this is to run ads on twitter, but if anyone would want to do that they wouldnt need nielsen ratings for that, there surely are numbers given out for these things (and i dont know if twitter has ads or not).
i guess it doesnt hurt anyone, but i just dont see it. i just hope they dont start plugging their twitter rating every 5 minutes...

 

[Zeven_Zion]

i dont get why this even matters.
dont get me wrong, i dont want to hate on social media, since the plugging is far less annoying and really acceptable by now.
but the only thing that social media would be good for is to create "buzz", getting people on these platforms to tune in and watch the show who wouldnt before right? but there already is a ratings system for the show itself, so why do we need a twitter rating?
the only use i can remotely see for this is to run ads on twitter, but if anyone would want to do that they wouldnt need nielsen ratings for that, there surely are numbers given out for these things (and i dont know if twitter has ads or not).
i guess it doesnt hurt anyone, but i just dont see it. i just hope they dont start plugging their twitter rating every 5 minutes...

I can see where you're coming from. However, social media is evolving (or at least should evolve) into much more than a buzz machine. Twitter in particular is sometimes underestimated by companies and such, but it's quite important.

I don't remember when it was, I think it was this year, but Associated Press posted a Tweet saying there were explosions in the White House and Obama was injured. Result? Stock market crashed in two minutes. Correction, one minute. All fake of course, but it gives you a nice example of how things have changed for Twitter.

Moreover, I recently worked on a massive research project with an International group of researchers in order to try and, essentially, "beat" the stock market using social media tools are predictors. Twitter was a huge part of the project, we worked mainly with Apple and Google stocks, kept track of social media opinions (sentiment analysis) with codes for positive and negative words and phrases going through hundreds and thousands of tweets and we ended up beating them with 7%. Then we showed it to a number of finance guys and they didn't believe it was real. Pretty cool stuff. No one will give a fuck about it for years but it took them a while to get used to the Internet at first as well.

Either way, what I'm trying to say is don't underestimate social media. If, and that's a big if, TNA or WWE can use it to their full advantage it can give them plenty of information about some of their audience's viewing habits. Won't solve their plummeting ratings, don't get me wrong, it'll just allow them to understand their viewers a little better. Plus, it's always nice to see how you compare to other TV shows and genres in more than TV itself.

Social media won't turn it around for TNA but it can help. The Twitter Ratings may just force them to look into social media some more and delve deeper than Dixie Carter Tweeting about revolutionizing the industry this Thursday.

Personally, I think one of wrestling's main problems right now is that they can't adapt to today's audience for some reason. Whether they're not shedding big bucks on research or they don't care, it just seems like both TNA and WWE are out of tune with their respective audiences. I'll say that WWE is more in tune than TNA, though. They changed the music genres they use, they added more socially relevant gimmicks, they match some trends and guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are HOPEFULLY teaching them a lesson about what people want. These two are a prime example of the evolution of today's viewing audiences. They'd be jobbers in the 90's and now they're mega stars. It's a different time. And as minor as such things as music or even the way wrestlers are dressed may seem, they can go a long, long way. Basically, WWE looks like wrestling would look in 2013. TNA looks like wrestling looked in 2001. Not even getting into content.

 

[SpecialFNK]

this this will rate TNA based on positive and negative things said on twitter? this is great for TNA, seeing how every Thursday night during Impact there is always so many negative things being said on twitter about TNA.
if that's how it works, isn't that a negative on this type of rating?

 

[The Boss]

I have tried and tried but I just don't get the point of twitter. There aren't enough allotted characters to be able to write anything and the majority of tweets from anyone you follow is retweets that read, "Hey, can I get a retweet?".

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'd read much earlier this year that Nielsen intended to factor in online social media activity in with ratings. I haven't read anything about it in months and I figured it was due to some sort of setback with it being employed at a later time.

Personally, I hate Twitter. I've never in my life sent a Tweet and unless the stars fall from the sky and Charlie Sheen becomes a Born Again Christian, I never will. Sometimes, both TNA and WWE have gotten under my skin with all the various plugs about social media and all its various aspects. However, from a business perspective, I do understand. Like it or not, social media has hugely impacted many facets of the everyday lives of countless people. Simply trying to ignore it and make no attempts at embracing it or exploit it to make your business grow is folly. Vince has fully embraced Twitter and social media in general to such a degree that it feels like an obsession at times. For the past few months, almost every episode of Raw features Lawler and/or Cole instructing people on how to download the WWE App. For quite a while, throughout Raw, WWE shows some of the various WWE related topics trending on Twitter throughout the show. Some Tweets are even rolled across the bottom of the screen at various times during the show. As I said, it gets to be quite a bit much sometimes if you're someone who doesn't really give a shit about social media, but it's here, there's no going back and there's no underestimating how influential it can be these days. As to how this is supposed to work, I THINK I remember reading that it wouldn't simply be the number of Tweets sent, it'd also be the number of people present who are reading the Tweets that will be factored in, whether the Tweets are of positive or negative opinions will be irrelevant. As I said, I THINK that's how it's supposed to work but I can't swear to it.

As to how TNA will fair, it's difficult to say. I can't remember any time in which I've read what TNA's social media score has been from any site. I'm not a follower of Twitter or social media in general, so I'm not really sure how strong TNA's general presence is. However, since TNA doesn't brag every opportunity it gets about its social media presence the way WWE does, I'm thinking that it might not be all that strong. Raw's social media scores are revealed Tuesdays and it's score is always among the top on cable. Depending on the time of year and competition, it's sometimes #1 on cable or all of television for Monday nights.