Are you one of those people who watch television with your laptop on your knees, smartphone in your right hand and tablet in the left one?
A recent survey, conducted by Mediametrie with Mesagraph, reveals a rising phenomenon in France: ‘social television’. This emerging trend involves commenting on TV shows on social media, blogs or directly on the TV channel’s website while watching it live on TV. In France, about 20 percent of internet users are already active in posting online comments about TV programmes in this very way. Predictably enough, this multiscreen user experience is most prevalent among 15 to 24 year old young adults, with 31 percent admitting to the practice.
The reasons for getting involved in social television often vary - indeed, 70 percent of respondents said they did so with the aim of sharing their opinion, 50 percent want to share the TV programmes they like and 30 percent are looking for further information on the show they’re posting about. Of course, some programmes ignite more conversation on the web than others, such as sports, entertainment and politics as it provides viewers with the opportunity to support their favourite candidate and teams, or be more engaged in the debate.
Brands and channels are also playing an important part in making television social, such as producers who create dedicated hashtags for their TV shows, or presenters who call for viewers to comment throughout the programme. Those digital conversations enable channels to get a live feedback from viewers, to know more about them and to catch their attention. When you watch television while posting to social media, you get more involved in the programme than you would if you were just idly watching it. Those posts reinforce your concentration on the content instead of distracting you. And sometimes, even if you think the TV show is very bad, you might prefer to keep watching it and post comments on Twitter or Facebook, rather than zapping and looking for a better programme, as I sometimes do!
While social media can represent a real opportunity for brands and channels, it can also have unfortunate consequences. We’ve recently seen an example of this in France with a new access prime time talk-show, launched on television at the beginning of September. The audience has been very low, the presenter has been subjected to very violent and intense criticism, and the programme might be dropped from the channel’s schedule. As long as the “haters” aren’t writing anything particularly insulting or libelous, there isn’t much you can do – apart from keeping silent or better, coming up with a social media strategy to very carefully answer them. This is the freedom of speech law being played out live on the internet and it just shows how not pleasing an audience or correctly engaging them can lead to the hasty extinction of a TV programme – after all, everything spreads like wildfire on the web.
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