We’re now past the point where experts and authorities in mass media channels are the primary arbiters of quality. Our extended social circles, often comprised of a mix of people we know personally and people we only know virtually, now have equal–or greater influence over our media consumption choices.

1. Discovery is
Still Primary
Purpose for
Social TV
Valeria Maltoni
Senior Director of Strategy
EPAM Empathy Lab
We’re now past the point where experts
and authorities in mass media channels
are the primary arbiters of quality. Our
extended social circles, often comprised
of a mix of people we know personally
and people we only know virtually, now
have equal–or greater influence over our
media consumption choices.
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All Rights Reserved
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EPAM Empathy Lab

2. Today you have more sources of information on movies
and TV shows than you can ever hope to read. You also
have more ways of watching entertainment programming; including catching up on your friend’s commentary
while a show is on.
Why is this significant?
Because the success of a movie or show does not rely
solely on the recommendation of experts and authorities
– in fact, many a critically acclaimed movie has not done
as well in box office sales. Conversely, movies that were
initially panned by the critics, reached cult status among
viewers – Inception, John Carter, The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo trilogy, and Snakes on a Plane manage
success through engaged fan bases.
Does online buzz translate
into higher TV ratings?
The correlation is significant, even as it still doesn’t
prove causality. According to October 2011 research
by Nielsen NM Incite, there is a relationship between
online buzz and media ratings. A 2012 study by
SocialGuide with Nielsen analyzing tweets about live
TV by 32 million unique people in the U.S. confirmed
a relationship between Twitter and TV ratings.
Study: Percent increase in twitter volume
associated with 1% increase in TV ratings
Of course, Oprah still matters.
The buzz from ordinary people can’t bring the massive
hit she can to a show at a mere mention. A movie or a
show still spreads in awareness thanks to the visibility
gained through the recommendation of celebrities and
experts.
However, the definition of influential has changed
quite a bit with social networks to include the people
formerly known as the audience. Members of the
community with strong ideas and a passion for a show
and its characters can become instant opinion leaders.
Engaged fans identify with the characters and can be
a real boom in amplifying reach and involvement,
often driving as much traffic to a site or show than
a marketing push, and helping keep a show like
Community (NBC, client) with 6.1 million Twitter
followers from being canceled.
[
Members of the community with
strong ideas and a passion for a
show and its characters can
become instant opinion leaders.
]
The point is when we can see what others like us are
talking about and see the opinions and ratings of
friends, we will likely check it out. It’s human nature.
The perception of what others are doing is essential to
the spreading of ideas in social media.
Thanks to broadband connections and social networks,
today we can see what other people are talking about
and watch what they are watching.
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EPAM Empathy Lab
Source: Nielsen, © 2012 The Nielsen Company
The study found that an 8.5 percent increase in Twitter
volume corresponds to a 1 percent increase in TV ratings
for premiere episodes, and a 4.2 percent increase in
Twitter volume corresponds with a 1 percent increase in
ratings for midseason episodes among18-34 year olds.
A 14.0 percent increase in Twitter volume is associated
with a 1 percent increase in TV program ratings for 35-49
year olds, reflecting a stronger relationship between
Twitter and TV for younger audiences.

3. With social networks, our circle of
friends has expanded to include other
people who are as passionate about a
story or a set of characters as we are.
We can choose to create additional
content to complement the entertainment experience, or just lean back
and watch a show alone, knowing that
later we can indulge our social nature
and curiosity before hitting the virtual
water cooler.
It’s now a matter of routine for people
to have a mobile device in hand while
watching television. Smartphones
or tablets are being called second
screens because they are devices and
applications that allow TV viewers to
interact with the content of a show –
and with each other – before, during,
and often after a show or between
seasons.
Social TV Facts
In February 2013, to turn
mentions into dollars
Twitter acquired Bluefin
Labs, a social TV analytics
company that provides
data products to brand
advertisers, agencies, and
TV networks. Applying
machine learning and
cognitive science research,
Bluefin Labs tracks 505
million activities/day to
mine reactions to shows
and ads.
Social TV is the term coined by the industry to describe
the action of connecting with others in social networks
about a specific program.
Who engages with
Social TV content?
While casual fans need more reasons to become involved with a show – for example, tools to ramp up their
knowledge about the characters, maybe introductions
to the show’s tribe – fans who are already involved with
entertainment content drive their own experience and
often that of their friends. Involved fans are more active
in talking about entertainment and programming. They:
Watch broadcasts, stream/buy and binge-watch shows,
subscribe to content and participate in special promotions
Love engaging with actual celebrities and TV shows characters
Share social signals, show off by talking about the shows,
sharing links to branded merchandise, discussing a plot or
storyline and emulating favorite show characters by using
sponsors’ products
Teach other people to be a fan by inviting them to watch
the show, talking about it on Twitter and other social networks,
explaining the show’s plot and advocating for the characters
and storyline in social media
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EPAM Empathy Lab
MIT Technology
Review listed social TV
as one of the 10 most
important emerging
technologies in 2010.
Nielsen purchased
Social Guide, aa company that analyzes the
social impact of linear
TV in November 2012.
It announced a partnership with Twitter in
December 2012.
Wired magazine named
Social TV one of six
“trends to expect”
in 2011.
Media industry analyst,
Jack Myers, predicts
social TV could be a $12
billion market by 2020.
Spend time, attention, and money consuming content and
experiences by streaming/buying and gifting shows seasons,
driving TV ratings and broadcast license revenue and generating
ad impressions across every advertising medium
During a show, the fan might be engaged while watching
the broadcast on TV or while out and about on a mobile device
or tablet. The fan may be engaged socially with other fans at a
group gathering or on Twitter or Facebook
Consume and create content
Given this level of involvement, fans want more content
associated with their favorite shows, and beyond the
show’s season leading up to next season. They also
want more ways to interact with the show’s characters
and storyline.
Fans can influence the individuals and groups who
need a personal and/or close connection with a show
to become interested: “Eight of my friends are watching
Burn Notice, I should check it out.”
How viewing habits
have changed
Having a mobile device on hand has become an integral
part of the TV watching experience. Nielsen NM Incite
2012 Social Media Report says 41 percent of tablet
owners and 38 percent of smartphone owners use their

4. Usage: Simultaneous TV/Mobile Device Usage, U.S.
Program Info
Product Info
Looked up information
related to the TV program
being watched
Looked up product
information for an
advertisement seen on TV
15%
23%
26%
35%
Coupons
Looked up coupons or deals
related to an advertisement
seen on TV
Shopping
Made a purchase while
12%
???
22%
45%
24%
Social
Visited a social networking
site during the program
38%
44%
Source: Nielsen, © 2012 The Nielsen Company
device daily while in front of a television screen.
Use of social networks tops the list of concurrent
activities, including looking up relevant program
and product information.
While Twitter has emerged as a key driver of Social TV
interaction, with nearly a third of active users tweeting
about TV-related content (June 2012), there is still
opportunity to offer a richer experience inclusive of
show-related content and viewer interaction.
Second screen apps are engaging viewers based upon
the opportunity to access exclusive content related
to the show and to interact with other fans in a more
intimate interface. Both are strong reasons why show
fans would want to download and use it.
Nearly a quarter of individuals aged 18-34 use social
media to comment on what they like and dislike about
a storyline while watching TV. Adults aged 35-44 are the
most likely to discuss television programming with their
social connections.
According to recent research by Google, every screen
is becoming a “mini-connected TV.” Tablet users are
increasingly propping the tablet up a few feet away and
leaning-back to watch video for an hour without touching the device. If you ride the subway in Seoul, you’ll
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EPAM Empathy Lab
see most passengers holding their phone in the palm
of their hand and watching video for the entire length
of the ride. Seoul’s subway is completely covered, and
entirely in 4G - the connection is good enough to watch
high-definition YouTube videos without buffering,
downloadable at speeds above 4 megabits per second.
There’s also local television reception everywhere, that
can be picked up on all cell phones equipped with antennas. The television experience is becoming
ubiquitous. And with technologies like Apple’s Airplay,
mobile devices may push experiences directly to
Connected TVs, or services that render TV experiences
in the cloud.
Regardless of how the TV experience is delivered, it is
defined by the paradigm of discovery, just as search and
communication define the desktop web experience.
The winners in the Connected TV space will be a new
crop of “TV-first” companies that will carve-up the TV
opportunity by focusing on delivering delightful
Discovery experiences.
Early discussions about this phenomenon are focused
on what industry observers call the second screen
ecosystem in an attempt to capture both the ability to
engage and interact with programming content while
viewing it, and experience that includes Social TV and

5. the ability to watch programming any time, anywhere,
on any device, which is in fact more properly defined
as multi-screen.In both cases, multi-channel, immersive
experiences are here to stay.
of TV viewers use another device
at the same time. Most often tablets.
In the book The Art of Immersion, Frank Rose provides
examples of the deep interactive immersion offered
by alternate reality games, which have the potential to
become very engaging to the point of fans controlling
the story.
Engaged fans identify
with characters
That’s when Helen Klein Ross started tweeting as Betty
Draper. She didn’t know the other characters, however
she knew the ad business. She completely immersed
herself in the character, watching the show, taking notes,
and extending it on Twitter. Carrie and Helen were relentless about being true to the period, their characters
and growing the following.
It was the passion and enthusiasm Carrie and Helen
brought to the fore that drove such a large following of
the Twitter accounts. They both started following anyone
who tweeted anything about Mad Men as Peggy and
Betty, respectively. That in turn had those fans start
following the other characters.
Study: The Metrics of Mad Men
AMC’s Gross Ad Revenue
License Fee Revenue
Average Subscribers
150
Over three years ago, Mad Men show creators learned
about the power of passionate fans first hand on Twitter.
125
Paul Isakson, a brand planner at an agency in Minneapolis, started tweeting as @Don_Draper. After just three
days, Don, Peggy and Joan had a big enough following
to get the attention of AMC. Based upon the following
garnered by those accounts and the buzz generated in
the twittersphere, by the end of the show’s second
season, every major and minor character had an
account on Twitter.
The second Twitter
@bettydraper, @PeggyOlson
stream to launch was
tweet actively and engage
for Joan Holloway’s
with the show’s followers
to this day.
character. The person
behind it never came
forward publicly. Carri
Bugbee, who runs a marketing firm in Portland, OR,
decided she wanted to be Peggy Olson. Bugbee
confided in a friend, Michael Bissell, who she then
convinced to start tweeting as Roger Sterling.
100
This was all done spontaneously, without the authorization of AMC, or the show’s creator, Matthew Weiner. nine
of the characters from the show turned up on Twitter,
building buzz for Mad Men.
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EPAM Empathy Lab
75
50
25
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Since Mad Men debuted on AMC in 2007, the cable channel’s
subscriptions, licensing fees, and ad revenue have all grown
dramatically. In other words, quality original programs mean
big money.
Source: Wired Magazine 2013
What really made any of this possible is the excellent
story and character development done by Matthew
Weiner, his team, and the cast and crew who bring the
story to life on screen. Without such a deep and complex
story full of all too human and unpredictable characters,
there would have been no interest in the Twitter

6. drivers. We are getting close to measuring how online
buzz translates into higher TV ratings, and can now track
how the TV experience doesn’t end when a show ends.
accounts. The show is slow to reveal what’s going on in
the characters’ lives and that made fans want to learn
more about the characters.
Social buzz influences
viewing decisions
Layers of communities of interest extend not only around
personal friends and followers, but also among those
who share common interests in a particular brand,
Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Roku, iTunes,
smartphone, tablet – there are many more ways to keep
watching, and building buzz for a set of characters and a
story plot. This drives viewership back on the first screen,
or television, when the season resumes. HBO American
television series Girls was a ratings dog until it became a
“must see” show in its third season thanks in big part to
social word of mouth.
76
%
Television lends itself to
social-network multitasking
more than any other
medium does.
While watching tv
Of those who post about TV Shows
Do so while watching programs Live
79
83
41
%
always or
sometimes
visit facebook
%
surf the web on sites
other than social
networking sites
%
tweet about the
show they are
watching
&
51
%
Post on social networking sites while
watching TV to feel connected with others
who might be watching
celebrity, event, or show.
This ‘social web’ of interaction leads to rapid exchanges and comparisons of news, views, content purchases,
favorite, and negative experiences.
As for ad revenues,
TV remains the best
way to tell a brand
story to something
approaching a mass
audience. With
greater knowledge
of who is watching
what and when, this
medium will change.
It is already changing
or being changed.
Recent developments
in addressable advertising TV are exemplified in the Allstate
push for renters’
insurance, a relatively
niche product.
During the MIPTV
2012 keynote, Josh
Sapan, President and CEO, AMC Networks talked
about how the digital medium has shifted the way
programming is viewed as well as what people are
willing to pay for.
While organizations cannot own these conversations,
they must become aware of them, learn from them,
provide service when issues appear, and feed them with
useful comment and content.
In the talk, Sapan discussed how AMC recognizes the
emerging binge-watching patterns for drama shows, and
acknowledged the shift from appointment TV driven by
scheduling and connection TV driven by the fans desire
to watch the shows they love when they want to.
In addition to participatory experiences, social audience
drivers include content discovery, and an ongoing,
sharable, interactive experience, as defined by the viewer.
He also admitted that Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and
Google TV have played a role in driving interest in new
seasons by letting people binge-watch past episodes.
On the entertainment media side, show ratings, ad
revenue, and digital commerce are important business
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EPAM Empathy Lab

7. Pay TV
Whether delivered by cable, satellite, or Telco, according
to AMC’s Sapan, Pay TV continues to be the sector to
experience the greatest growth in all of television.
For all the talk about how TV is the least used of all
screen, teenagers today are watching more, not less
TV, he said.
Viewers are watching more paid TV than they used to
in the past. In many cases, these are people who never
paid for cable because they don’t see it as a necessity.
The industry calls them “cord-nevers”, and its executives
admit they are facing a new generation that is approaching entertainment content very differently than
previous ones.
According to Sapan, content drives authentication.
And it’s not just any kind of content – original content
drives the “hate to do without it” success of paid
programming.
Viewer experience
and engagement are the
new drivers.
This Means:
Entertainment content, in whatever form it takes – online, a
movie, a download, a game, a recording, an e-book, video,
site or blog – and those who create and distribute the content
MUST connect with the audience directly, wherever they are.
Direct to audience, on whichever screen/format they choose to
view entertainment, means understanding their preferences,
those of their friends, as well as how they are connected to
what is popular and trending.
Beyond addressing a show’s tweetability, this means
rebuilding the engagement model with digital /
technology / data at the core as a way to remain
connected with audiences continuously, and allow
fans to get more deeply involved with the show,
series, and even with the ads, if they so choose.
Shows like the Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Homeland,
Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, and Mad Men, to name
a few, gain a following due to strong character development and storylines. Fans develop a very personal
connection with the show’s characters, which leads to...
Implications for entertainment media
1
Personalization must become table stakes.
Beyond personal customer details and demographics, learning about behaviors, and current mobile context such
as location, proximity or mode of access. Combined with their experience of social interaction this can improve the
overall customer experience and loyalty.
This also leads to simplicity, which helps improve the discovery process – what program to choose among a
growing catalog and how to find them. Intelligent bundling andtailoring streamlines the process.
2
The Social Network revolution is here and participation is
not optional.
Changes to viewing behavior means that customers no longer make decisions in isolation. This spells opportunities
for content providers to enable direct to consumer entertainment media content sales through pull.
Feedback from audience engagement enables gathering further insights on viewer content preferences.
3
7
Connectivity across all devices – anywhere, anytime – is a must.
It’s a new multi screen world. One of Netflix’s core advantages over competitors is its ability to stream on nearly every
connected device. Creating a consistent and uniform experience across hundreds of devicesis a significant technical
challenge, and content licensing deals will need addressing, because the connected experience will offer a major
competitive advantage.
EPAM Empathy Lab

8. Stats: 150,000 downloads
in one month. 3 million users
who stream content from
80 channels. Estimated savings
to Liberty GIobal, $1 billion.
Case Study: Liberty Global
Liberty Global (client) is the largest cable company in
the world, with operations in 14 countries, primarily in
Europe and Latin America. They deliver 34 million
television, broadband Internet, and telephony services
to 20 million customers through subscription.
A market-leader in next-generation networks and
innovative technology platforms, Liberty Global
[
]
Empathy Lab was Critical to the
success of this complex digital
entertainment experience. We look
forward to Empathy Lab’s continued
guidance and support as we rollout
enhanced features & new platforms.
— Bob Greene, Liberty Global
recently launched Horizon.tv, an immersive TV-watching
experience that allows customers to share content across
multiple devices.
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EPAM Empathy Lab
Five critical factors were instrumental in the
successful outcome of this project:
1
Starting with a comprehensive business strategy to address
content and device type in the multi-language, multi-country
environment in which the company operates.
2
Addressing how to approach the user interface and the
product design user experience. Multi-device applications
introduce the need to create a differentiated experience
with the goal to engage, delight, and surprise users through
personalization. For example, you can start watching a movie
on your set-top box and then continue watching it on your
mobile device.
3
Designing an emotional connection and response throughout
the experience, no matter the device and context. This required a deep understanding both of the user and the media,
to carry over the magic of the set-top box into a device where
50-70% of the screen is taken up by images.
4
Building and managing the program while gathering the requirements. Developing a full prototype based upon use cases
allowed the team to articulate what was needed clearly and
keep both program development and engineering working
toward the same solution. The prototype served as the project
documentation and a tool to keep the team laser-focused.

9. About the Author
Valeria Maltoni,
Senior Director of Strategy,
EPAM Empathy Lab
Valeria has been helping organizations develop strategies to connect brands and customers
through content, community, and commerce in digital and social for more than 20 years. She
has worked with Fortune 500 clients and fast growth organizations in five industries, including
Target, Allstate, GE Appliances, Anheuser-Busch InBev, SunGard, Willis International, and the
Project Management Institute (PMI).
For More information visit:
epam.com/empathylab
EPAM Empathy Lab is a digital strategy and experience design firm with a
global user experience development team. We build products. Our work is based
on: Meeting the needs of end users by understanding what they are trying to do
through behavioral research; Achieving business objectives by supporting client
Contact us
David_Larkins@epam.com
programs through strategic consulting. Plus, translating data into insights that
inform measurement and tactics through experience planning and optimization;
Delivering world-class software engineering by shaping products in code through
experience development.
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