Instagram Has 8% Of TV-Related Posts But 70% Of The Engagement

Instagram accounts for 8% of social media posts about fall TV but 70% of the engagement, according to a new report by Nielsen via its Social Content Ratings service.

As social media continues to grow in importance as a tool for building awareness for TV shows, networks are looking for the best ways to deploy resources across social platforms. Nielsen is increasing its capabilities for measuring what it calls Owned Content Performance across social media.

As evidence of the need, the company sifted through social data from a three-week period ahead of the fall TV season. The total added up to 142,000 pieces of content on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram generating more than 154 million engagements (likes, comments, re-posts, etc.).

The numbers on Instagram were particularly revealing. While the Facebook-owned platform had just 8% of all posts, it had a 70% share of engagement.

Nielsen began accounting for social media in its measurement in 2016, adding Instagram last January.

While text-only posts remain the most common media type created by owned accounts, with 35% of the owned content total, they captured only 8% of owned engagements. Video and static images, by comparison, comprise about 56% of owned content but make up 83% of all owned engagements.

Content creators must be able to curate posts that harness the distinct benefits of each platform. Video posts on Facebook and Twitter are more than 10% and 20% more engaging than images, respectively, but it’s reversed on Instagram; image posts on Instagram overtake video posts by more than 30% in terms of engagements.

“Social media has become an invaluable touchpoint for TV marketers and talent to engage with their program audiences in season and off. In order to optimize their performance strategies across social platforms, marketers need a trusted measurement of content and visibility into what talent is doing on their behalf,” says Sean Casey, President, Nielsen Social. “That’s why Owned Content Performance is so useful: it not only identifies the content that is garnering the most engagement on each platform, but is also the only measurement solution that includes the program-related content being driven by talent. This gives marketers maximum visibility into the total social performance of their programs.”