Kantar, SecondSync… Why measurement is key to Twitter
Twitter is working aggressively to make a place for itself as the dominant second platform with television viewing. While many recognise that Twitter has successfully coexisted with TV for a while now, this is a space that social media giant Facebook is also eyeing. Given the scale that Facebook commands, marketers cannot ignore the social media platform’s efforts in this direction.
In a bid to make a stronger case for itself, Twitter is focussing harder on speaking the marketers’ language, at least as far as measurement is concerned.
While on the one hand, Facebook is speaking of return on investment or moving business units, a ploy of ‘Twitter for brand awareness’, as some studies claim the role of the platform to be, will not to be enough.
The social TV focus via collaboration
Twitter’s focus to bring measurement in its symbiotic relationship with TV was initially done to indicate that more people watched TV, when they could discuss the content online with friends while viewing sports or other popular shows. A collaboration with Nielsen was seen at the time for Twitter TV.
The company then entered into a relationship with WPP’s Kantar. Earlier this week, the two entities deepened the relation and entered into an enhanced global partnership with agreement over five years. Under the program ‘Data of Now’, both have agreed to collaborate on new research products in the areas of advertising effectiveness, consumer insight, brand equity, customer satisfaction and media measurement.
“We are building on the learning and successes of our initial collaboration in the area of social TV. Incorporating Twitter as the ‘data of now’ will allow us to make real time predictive research a reality for our clients,” commented Kantar’s CEO, Eric Salama, in the press statement.
“Twitter plays host to a real-time, public conversation at scale on all manner of topics—including television. We’re also looking forward to working with Kantar to bring Twitter TV standards and measurement tools to more regions across the globe,” added Twitter’s COO Ali Rowghani.
At the same time, Kantar and Twitter have extended their exclusive partnership for the provision of social TV ratings and analytics. The agreement will see the relationship grow from its current base in the UK and Spain to include markets such as Southeast Asia.
Acquisition to gear up for competition
Twitter has not stopped there. The company also acquired SecondSync that was one of the key measurement partners with Facebook for social TV data. Earlier this year, Facebook had announced that it will work with SecondSync to help marketers understand how people are using the social network to talk about topics such as TV.
The partnership was dubbed as a big deal as it meant Facebook’s social TV data would be available outside the company for the first time.
SecondSync is essentially a business built up over the last three years. Through its social analytics products, it looks to enable marketers in the broadcast and advertising industries to realise the value of conversations on social platforms about television.
In its announcement, a public statement from SecondSync quoted: “Twitter is the only place that hosts a real-time, public conversation about TV at scale. By joining Twitter, we will be able to help take that experience, in concert with the rest of the TV ecosystem, to the next level —particularly in markets outside the United States. Our current UK product will continue to be available for an interim period.”
“Twitter is still working on making its commercial initiatives such as sponsored tweets and sponsored accounts work. Securing its position as the second screen with TV is critical for the platform right now to see more advertising revenues grow. The collaboration with Kantar and the acquisition of SecondSync are some of the important steps in this direction,” explained a senior media agency digital head.
