4th Edition of SocialTV Index Tracking Survey by Ring Digital llc Shows Twitter is Up 28% Amongst the Estimated ~57 Million Viewers That Actively Vote, Post, Share or Comment on TV

BURLINGAME, Calif., April 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 4^th edition of Ring Digital llc's consumer tracking survey on Social TV behavior has been published, building on past results to paint a picture of the impact social TV is having on the changing television landscape.

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Based on the study, Ring Digital estimates the Social TV Engager population at ~57 million TV viewers. This estimate is based on improved wording for the core SocialTV Index survey questions.

One key element of our research explores the popularity of social platforms. One surprising result?

• Twitter was used by 28.4% of the Social TV Engager population up 28% from six months ago.

"For eighteen months, Twitter has been declining as a platform that is used to vote, post, share or comment about something on TV. I expected that to continue, so this turnaround was a surprise. However, as I dug more deeply into the data, at least one explanation became clear: News, Politics & Donald Trump."

This datapoint was only revealed by the new core survey question which has deepened the insights available from this study.

The notable insight is how high News ranks in terms of Social TV Engagement activity on a genre basis.

• News was selected by 48.1% of Social TV Engagers as one of five genres of prime-time TV content about which they have voted, posted, shared or commented.

"Sports and News are two categories that have consistently been at the top of the list of genre rankings for our social TV research. But I've never seen any genre hit 48%.

To me, that reveals the most enduring strength of Twitter: News. We often talk about Twitter in the context of sports, but the reality is that Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and SnapChat are all doing very well in Sports."

In fact, there are now four platforms that are relatively close to each other in terms of preference for Social TV Engagers. Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & SnapChat.

• YouTube & Twitter were selected by ~21% of Social TV Engagers as a platform used to post TV related comments.
• Instagram was selected by 17% and SnapChat was selected by 15% of Social TV Engagers as a platform used to post TV-related comments.
• Note, Facebook is still crushingly dominant in this regard. ~86% of Social TV Engagers used it.

"The results reveal the strength of Twitter as a core news platform. Journalists, bloggers and athletes use Twitter as a next-generation newswire. For these users, Donald Trump has done a great service to the social media community by cementing the useful role that Twitter plays in news dissemination, even if the corporate team at Twitter continues to believe they can create a mass media juggernaut that competes head-to-head with Facebook."

The full, free report is published on Slideshare and available at this URL:

http://www.slideshare.net/icliptv/57-million-viewers-actively-engage-in-social-tv-twitter-up-28-since-aug-15-facebook-still-dominates-news-is-hot-4th-edition-of-the-socialtv-index 

Ring Digital llc on Social Media
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Contact:
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SOURCE Ring Digital llc