2013：社交电视起飞之年

    准备好迎接2013年的社交电视战争了吗？Twitter、尼尔森（Nielsen）和众多公司在2012年排兵布阵，准备在今年大干一场。

    攻城略地在两方面进行：一是社交电视的平台；二是社交电视上数据和收视率的行业标准。作为其中一方面，Twitter正在收视标准领域发力，该公司将在今年跟尼尔森达成合作，将在尼尔森传统的收视率调查服务之外产生一套针对各个电视节目的社交媒体收视标准。在应用层面，数家公司正成长为行业领导者。它们会迅速崛起以进一步吸引观众，并向广告商提供更多后续互动的机会。下面是一些主要的竞争者：

    Viggle由罗伯特•席勒曼创立，他曾以40亿美元的价格将SFX娱乐公司（SFX Entertainment）卖给清晰頻道通信公司（Clear Channel）。Viggle用户确认自己正在收看节目的方法是：拿起手机或设备靠近电视机，这样应用就能对节目进行识别了。这一行动可以得到积分奖励，用户可以在苹果（Apple）iTunes、1-800-Flowers和其他商家那里使用这些积分。很多用户已经从Shazam那里学会了Viggle应用的使用方法，前者推出的顶级音乐识别应用领风气之先，但在电视领域远远不及Viggle。

    Viggle最近收购了GetGlue，后者是它在社交电视领域的竞争对手。Viggle还跟主要的广播电视网——包括全国广播公司（NBC）、美国广播公司（ABC）和特纳电视网（TNT）——建立了合作关系，并被体育节目观众大量使用，因为它推出过一款名为MyGuy的体育幻想游戏。另外，Viggle也成为有线电视服务商用户忠诚奖励计划的一部分，直播电视公司（DIRECTV）就向使用Viggle的自家用户提供了独家的奖励和积分。

    事实上，在社交电视的互动中，体育节目独占鳌头。针对Twitter、Facebook、Viggle和其他平台上的社交互动情况，市场调查公司Trendrr新近发布了一份分析报告。其中提到，在所有与电视节目有关的互动中，体育节目以31%一马当先，而真人秀节目则以17%紧随其后。

    为了不被Viggle打败，Shazam推出了类似的功能，但它跟广播电视网的合作关系较少。Shazam把重点放在了电视广告签到业务上。该公司最近发布了一份研究报告，其中把广告签到跟用户不断增长的后续行动联系在了一起。

    Are you ready for the 2013 social TV wars? Twitter, Nielsen and a host of companies lined up their armies in 2012. They are poised to go at it this year.

    There are two landgrabs going on: the first is to be the platform for social TV, the second to be the industry standard for data and ratings on social TV. Twitter, for one, is making a play for the ratings space as well with its Nielsen partnership to be launched in this year. This partnership will produce a standard social media rating for each TV show to go alongside its traditional Nielsen (NLSN) rating. On the app front, several companies are emerging as leaders. They will ramp up quickly to further engage viewers and deliver more follow-on interactions to advertisers. Here are some of the key competitors:

    Viggle was founded by Robert Sillerman who sold SFX Entertainment to Clear Channel for $4 billion. Viggle users verify the TV show they are watching by holding their phone or device to the TV so that the app recognizes the show. This activity rewards the user with points which they can redeem in Apple's (AAPL) iTunes, 1-800-Flowers (FLWS) and other merchants. Many users have been trained in the Viggle action by Shazam, which kicked off the genre with its top music recognition app, but is well behind Viggle in the TV space.

    Viggle recently acquired GetGlue, a competitor in the social TV sector. Viggle has partnerships with major networks including NBC, ABC and TNT and is used heavily in sports viewing with its companion fantasy sports game, MyGuy. Viggle is also the loyalty rewards program for cable provider, DIRECTV (DTV), providing DIRECTV customers who use Viggle with exclusive rewards and bonus points.

    Sports, in fact, leads all other categories in social TV interactions. Trendrr just released an analysis of social interactions across Twitter, Facebook (FB), Viggle and other platforms. Of all TV-show related interactions, sports led with 31%, followed by reality TV with 17%.

    Not to be outdone by Viggle, Shazam has introduced similar features although it has fewer TV partnerships. Shazam has focused its efforts on TV commercial check-ins. The company recently released a study which correlates Shazam advertising check-ins with increased follow-on actions by users.