Social TV prepares to explode just in time for Olympics

Television has always been inherently social. Worldwide, audiences have gathered in lounge rooms to find out Who Shot J.R., who will win a reality cooking show, or which team will lift their trophy.

And for decades, these broadcasts have been discussed the next morning in school playgrounds or around office water coolers.

But now those conversations are occurring instantly through social networks such as Twitter, or social TV apps.

Yahoo!7 were the first of the Australian networks to launch a social TV app, creating Fango in November ahead of their Australian Open coverage and My Kitchen Rules-Revenge dominance. But the other networks are catching up.

Network Ten is the latest Australian entrant into social TV, with the announcement this week of their collaboration with British app developer Zeebox. With a slew of trash TV programming targeting the 16-39 demographic, such as The Shire and Being Lara Bingle, Ten could use its social app to attract eyeballs through an any-publicity-is-good-publicity strategy.

Nine Entertainment Co. announced its social TV app Jump-in last month, which could prove to be a major play ahead of the Olympics.

However, other stations including 7 and ABC (through iView) are hoping to cannibalise Nine’s coverage with Olympics commentary of its own.

This technique is not new. At a multiplatform TV conference in Sydney last year, ESPN’s Commercial Director Gus Seebeck told of how rival networks could win audience share to sports magazine shows without having rights to the game itself. Companies such as Nike were also successful in leveraging the 2010 Football World Cup without spending a cent on official sponsorship.

But the International Olympics Committee (IOC) is more critical in its scrutiny of ambush marketing. An ad for Australian Mining was pulled last week because it featured the logo of BHP Billiton – a competitor to official Olympics sponsor Rio Tinto.

The IOC will find it much harder to deal with poaching of coverage through social networks and apps.

The fragmented nature of social and online comment, especially during one of the biggest global events, is leaving some advertising executives waiting to see large scale success in using social TV before investing in the medium.

Alongside Nine, Foxtel are official broadcasters of the Olympics. Their Digital and Social Strategist, Craig Page, will present ‘Where will social TV go next?’ as part of Australia’s leading social media conference at The Internet Show Sydney in November. Click here to find out more.