Nielsen Acquires Social TV Analytics Company SocialGuide

written by: Richard Kastelein

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Published on Tuesday, 20 November 2012 09:29

Nielsen, and NM Incite, a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Company, have announced the acquisition of SocialGuide, a leading provider of social TV measurement, analytics and audience engagement solutions.  The acquisition represents Nielsen’s commitment to delivering comprehensive media measurement solutions, and expands NM Incite’s social media research and analytics capabilities.Social TV is transforming the consumer viewing experience, with more than 33% of Twitter users actively tweeting about TV-related content*.

SocialGuide is a comprehensive, real-time social TV capture service covering programming across 232 U.S. TV channels in English and Spanish, and over 30,000 programs.  Built for linear TV, SocialGuide’s intelligent analytics and engagement platform provides insight on the social impact of TV, enabling networks to engage with the social fan base in realtime. 

“The skyrocketing adoption and use of social media among consumers is transforming TV-watching into a more immediate and shared experience. As TV networks see this phenomenon unfold, they require understanding of the impact of social TV on their programming, ratings and advertising effectiveness,” said Steve Hasker, President, Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. “Nielsen’s expertise in creating industry standard consumer measurement means we are uniquely suited to establish a deeper understanding of today’s highly-engaged consumers through social TV metrics.  We are thrilled by the addition of SocialGuide to our portfolio and welcome them to Nielsen.”

SocialGuide will be integrated immediately into NM Incite, the hub of Nielsen’s social media measurement and analytics efforts.  SocialGuide’s software technology and data streams complement NM Incite’s existing software and data solutions.  Together, Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will focus on efforts to quantify the relationship between social TV and TV ratings to enable advertisers to maximize the impact of their spend, and provide new research metrics to understand social TV’s impact on consumer behavior and viewing habits. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“The opportunity in social TV is too big to ignore and there is a need for standard metrics and research to uncover the effect of social TV on programming and advertising strategies,” said Andrew Somosi, CEO of NM Incite.  “TV networks are expanding their research, advertising and engagement efforts across social media. The powerful combination of Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will enable us to deliver unparalleled insights and capabilities to our TV and advertiser clients."

“Nielsen is the industry leader in providing cross-platform and multi-media measurement solutions,” said Sean Casey, founder of SocialGuide. “There is no greater opportunity to establish industry metrics and standards in social TV than bringing Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide together. We are incredibly excited to work together and bring TV networks the next level of measurement.”

Analysis at Forbes, here and here.