Social TV apps struggle for tweets

By Wenlei Ma | 19 April 2013
 

When it comes to Twitter engagement on second screen companion apps, the TV networks are way behind user habits. Zeebox, Jump-In and Fango are generating only a fraction of a fraction of tweets about TV.

Data from MediaCom’s social analytics tool mBuzzTV showed of Australian Twitter traffic about TV, only 0.17% originated from Zeebox, 0.11% from Jump-In and 0.01% from Fango.

This is in stark contrast to the number one source of Australian TV tweets, the Twitter for iPhone app, which accounted for 34.34% of traffic. Second was the Twitter desktop website with 19.21%, followed by the Twitter for Android app with 11.93%.

“The any-show functionality of Zeebox has helped it beat out station-specific apps Jump-In and Fango, but ultimately none of these specialist apps are gaining significant traction,” MediaCom head of innovation and technology Nic Hodges told AdNews.

“People love to talk about the shows they’re watching, but they’re doing it on their own terms – not the networks’.” Zeebox is a channel-neutral app but has partnerships with Ten and Foxtel.

Fango is Seven’s initiative and was the first to market in Australia while Nine’s Jump-In launched in July last year. Zeebox said it has had 400,000 downloads in Australia while Fango has had 770,000. Of course, Twitter streams are not the only functionality of second-screen companion apps, which also feature interactive functions such as voting,
competitions, online chat, extra content and more.

A Yahoo!7 spokesperson said: “It’s not clear what value the results in question deliver to advertisers or those interested in the evolving area of social TV. While Twitter is a useful product in itself, tweets are a small part of what a user can, and wants to do in Fango.” Yahoo!7 said the most popular engagements through Fango occur through real-time polling, synced content and rewards.

Mi9 indicated Jump-In is working with Twitter to improve social tools that will aggregate tweets during a show and build live infographics.

The company expects Twitter engagement will increase as thefunctionality evolves. Rebecca Haagsma, director of convergence at Mi9, said: “We know a lot of people aren’t necessarily tweeting from the app, but we know they’re absolutely reading and watching tweets from Jump-In...”

“We don’t position Jump-In as a ‘social TV’ app first and foremost. Jump-In is a second-screen companion that connects fans with more and bigger experiences from their favourite show.”

Zeebox head of marketing Sarah Batters told AdNews: “Our users are spending on average 45 minutes in the app interacting with their favourite shows. Social is only one in five consumer wants from a second-screen app – the others are discovery, information, participation and shopping.”

The other insight gleaned from the mBuzz data is the dominance of mobile – it accounted for over 50% of sources – which Hodges argued challenges second-screen strategies. “Australians are watching TV with their mobile in hand, so brands need to be driving mobile-first calls-to-action from their TV,” he said.

Earlier research from OzTam, Regional Tam and Nielsen revealed only 33% of second-screen tablet users are simultaneously interacting with content related to programs or advertising on TV.

The mBuzz Twitter data was analysed from 200,000 unduplicated Australian-originated tweets between 1 March to 16 April which referenced or talked about 50 TV shows. It included ‘@replies’ and re-tweets.

This article first appeared in the 19 April 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.

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