Twitter has bought Bluefin Labs to help it monitor social media buzz related to TV shows.
Twitter says the buy will help the company “create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences” in social TV.
Initially formed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bluefin combines cognitive science and machine learning to measure how much people are talking about broadcasts in real time on Twitter, Facebook and other forums.
Bluefin, founded in 2008, also measures whether people online are making favorable or unfavorable comments.
Bluefin’s products haven’t been solely Twitter-based, but in its announcement, the company says that’s where the vast majority of real-time social TV activity happens.
While our products have always included data from multiple social media services, the reality is that Twitter is the platform where the overwhelming majority ¬– about 95% – of public real-time engagement with TV happens. So we couldn’t be more excited to join Twitter.
“Bluefin’s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV,” Twitter chief operating officer Ali Rowghani said in a blog post.
The acquisition follows on the December announcement that Twitter is partnering with Nielsen to create the “Nielsen Twitter TV Rating,” the first industry-standard metric for second-screen activity. In today’s announcement, Twitter says it’ll work with Nielsen “on product development and research to help brands, agencies, and networks fully understand the combined value of Twitter and TV.”
Bluefin reported Monday that 30.6 million public Twitter messages and Facebook comments about Super Bowl XLVII fired off during the game, with 3.9 million of those being about ads.
There were 24.1 million tweets about the US football game and halftime show starring singer Beyonce, not counting messages about ads, according to Twitter.
“While our products have always included data from multiple social media services, the reality is that Twitter is the platform where the overwhelming majority – about 95 per cent of public real-time engagement with TV — happens,” Bluefin said in a blog post announcing the deal.
“As part of Twitter, we look forward to working closely with Nielsen, TV networks, advertisers, agencies and the rest of the TV ecosystem to help shape the future of social TV.”