THE ABC has stolen a march on the commercial networks when it comes to getting social media users talking about its programs, with several of its shows topping the first results of a new monthly survey that aims to measure programs’ “talkability”.

Monday night discussion show Q&A, a pioneer in Australia in encouraging viewers to
use Twitter to comment live on a TV program, was easily the most talked about on
social media in March, according to the survey, ahead of big sports events and
commercial “watercooler” shows such as The Block and My Kitchen Rules.

Richard Corones, managing director of strategic media firm Magna Global, said the
weakness of the TV ratings system was that it measured the size of audiences but not
how engaged they were and therefore how receptive they might be to advertising
messages. Social Audience Rating Points data is calculated using an algorithm taking
into account factors such as the volume of conversation about a show on Facebook,
Twitter and online forums, whether the sentiments expressed are positive or negative
and if the amount of chatter is increasing or declining.

The SARPS system also reflected how viewers felt about the actors and storylines of a
show, Mr Corones said. By overlaying SARPS data with other measures, media
planners would be able to recommend investment in programming that might not
rate highly in audience numbers but scored well in terms of interest in other aspects
of a program.

Sally Jackson – The Australian – April 22, 2013