SOCIAL TV – WHAT’S NEXT?

So, Channel 4 show the Circle has been snapped up by Netflix. The Circle is a show born for Social Media where players adopt a Social Media persona and compete to win others trust and is just the latest example of ‘Social TV’. 

The marriage of TV and social media isn’t a new phenomenon and the likes of Made in Chelsea, Love Island and the X-Factor, amongst many, have been for a long while encouraging us to share our thoughts online to stimulate further interest and engagements. The Circle for instance has 25,000 followers on their Twitter account and of the Wednesday 3 days after the finale it still was a  trending topic on Twitter. 

The Channel 4 show the Circle, had eight players communicate and compete against each other through a specifically-designed, voice-activated social media platform (called the Circle).

The power social media players in live or pre-recorded TV is huge for advertisers and brands, creating dual screen targeting campaigns, whereas once it was a solitary channel. TV is excellent in delivering reach, impact and brand credibility but advertisers can see a huge impact on their sales and returns when they combine their spots with digital activity as Mobile and Desktop is where the online shopper buys. 

Advertisers who can nail their paid and organic strategies during television shows also can get in crucial ‘trending spaces’ enabling them to join the conversation and become more searchable as a brand.

Twitter is often the medium of choice for social media/TV conversations, because it lends itself well as an arena for a debate and TV producers and advertisers can obtain instant feedback and gage how well content is being engaged, almost instantly. In 2017 Facebook conducted research on the impact of Facebook and TV (source: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/power-of-better-together-combine-facebook-and-tv). Key findings show that Facebook delivers an extra 6% reach over TV and 25% higher brand impact when combined with TV at just a fraction of the cost.

It is an exciting time as we continue to see the evolution of both Offline and Online medias.  At MAG we understand the value in combining these medias to help campaigns generate mass targeted coverage. 

With the rise of ‘Social TV’ marketing opportunities are becoming greater and now is the time to synergise media plans to start reaping the benefits.