01.25.2018

TV social branded content up 30%, Facebook organic reach down 40% for media industry

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2018 — ListenFirst, the most comprehensive social analytics solution for the enterprise, today released its State of Social TV report with key insights into Facebook’s organic reach, how consumers are engaging with TV properties on social media, audience make-up of consumers engaging with TV properties, and the rise of social branded content as a new advertising opportunity. ListenFirst’s report reveals that in 2017 Instagram took over Facebook in engagement for the first time, organic reach of media posts on Facebook declined 40%, and social branded content outperformed all other TV posts by 42%.

The growth of TV social audiences presented a new advertising opportunity in the form of branded content. So, naturally, Facebook’s recent announcement about changes to its News Feed has put a lot of media companies on edge,” says Jason Klein, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, ListenFirst. “The unique insights in this report can help media companies better prepare for the Facebook changes to come, and also presents advertisers with a compelling reason for continuing to partner with media companies on social branded content.”

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Decline in Facebook organic reach does not mean less people see content from media properties: While Facebook organic reach declined by 40% in 2017, the number of people who saw a TV post organically declined by only 13%, meaning TV posts reached audiences beyond a TV page’s fan base
• Instagram surpassed Facebook as the number one most engaging platform: Instagram grew 41% in engagement in 2017 while Facebook engagement declined by 25%
• Instagram TV audiences catches up to Twitter TV audiences: Instagram’s fan footprint across TV pages grew 11x from 2014 to 2017 topping 256M followers, nearing Twitter’s 283M followers
• Streaming networks outperform broadcast and cable in social engagement: Social engagement for streaming programs spiked 13x from 2016-2017, while Broadcast and Cable programs grew by 6x and 5x, respectively, during the same period
• TV social branded content is highly effective: Social branded content published by TV pages outperformed non-branded content by an average 42% in 2017, and generated 9x more engagement than what an advertiser generated on its own page

About ListenFirst
ListenFirst is the most comprehensive enterprise social analytics solution. Powered by deep machine learning, ListenFirst unites billions of consumer signals from every social platform to give brands a complete view of their customer and performance, and analytics to drive business outcomes. ListenFirst offers insight on owned, organic, earned, and paid social activities and has the deepest data set, including cross-platform private data benchmarks no other company can provide. Founded in 2012, ListenFirst is trusted by leading global brands including Turner, Amazon, Gap Inc., Kendo Beauty, Michael Kors, and Warner Bros., and is regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Ad Age, Forbes and more. For additional information, visit www.listenfirstmedia.com.

Contact Tracy David tracy.david@listenfirstmedia.com

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