Study: Live TV Viewing Increases Social Media Usage

NEW YORK: According to new research from Viacom, watching live TV unlocks the greatest benefits of social activities, including co-viewing. 

The study, Social TV: Viewers C’s the Moment, reveals that social TV and co-viewing trends are on the rise, making TV a more engaging "lean-forward" experience. The most common social activities are watching TV with others (85 percent), searching for supplemental content (61 percent) and turning to social networks to view clips of shows (58 percent). The research shows that consumers who are engaging with social activities "C’s the Moment," by communicating, consuming content and checking comments.

Communicating is a top priority for social TV users. Of the respondents who cite an interest in chat features, 56 percent prefer using the social TV app/service, 53 percent use Facebook, 50 percent engage in texts and 38 percent turn to Skype or Apple FaceTime.

Content is incredibly important for social TV users. The number one request for content is full-length episodes (88 percent), followed by sneak peeks of new episodes (75 percent) and behind-the-scenes extras (71 percent) and highlight clips (71 percent).

Comments are commonly given by social TV users about their favorite shows for a variety of reasons. The number one source viewers want to hear from is a show’s cast and crew, followed by the people they know. When hearing from a show’s cast and crew, audiences look for authenticity and prefer the star to be in character.

The report finds that social TV users "C’s the Moment" most during live TV. Features related to communication, content and comments are twice as likely to be used during live TV than time-shifted viewing. Social TV activities also increase directly after a live show.

"One of the main goals of this research was to understand how to inspire social TV activity among our audiences," said Colleen Fahey Rush, the executive VP and chief research officer at Viacom Media Networks.  "At VMN, we’re focused on leveraging our fans’ attachment to their favorite shows by developing compelling social TV services and apps that deepen those connections and unlock the value of social chatter."