Social media boosting catch-up viewing, says Nielsen

TV networks are in some instances now are seeing more than 50% of their 18 to 34 year-old viewership tuning in during the seven-day window after the live airing of shows, according to Nielsen. 

In new research, which looked at the importance social media in building audiences, Nielsen said that reality series were 31% more likely to be watched live, while premiere episode, regardless of genre, was 15% more likely to be watched live.

Nielsen said a 10% increase in Nielsen Twitter TV Rating impressions corresponded to a 1.8% increase in the audience who watch the show during the seven days after the live airing. This indicates that “social media activity around TV programming is playing a role in driving viewers to watch programming later in the week,” said Nielsen.

It also noted that “more social shows see a greater boost in time-shifted audiences than less social ones,” with ‘high social’ shows, getting a 36% larger catch-up audience than live audiences, compared to ‘low social’ shows’ that had catch-up audiences just 16% larger than live audiences.