The SOCIAL MEDIA POLL

THR and Penn Schoen Berland

THR reveal the impact of Facebook and
Twitter on what entertainment
EXCLUSIVE
users watch, reject and write about

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A HOURS SPENT EACH WEEK DOING ONLINE ACTIVITIES OTHER ACTIVITIES PEOPLE CELEBRITY
DO WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY VISITING
NEW FORM OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND
ENTERTAINMENT SOCIAL MEDIA
Consumers increasingly use Facebook 66% 50% 11% Respondents were asked
KIM
KARDASHIAN

88
watch TV watch watch
and Twitter to supplement which public figures holds the No. 3
programs on a movies on a movies in
traditional entertainment experiences
8
hours
8
hours
7
hours
4 4 4 television set television set a theater have the best and worst spot on
both charts
hours hours hours profiles online

Visiting Listening Watching Watching Watching Instant HOW PEOPLE USE

social to music full-length full-length video clips messaging SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES CELEBRITIES WHO CELEBRITIES WHO
networking television movies (e.g.,
HAVE BENEFITED HAVE BEEN HURT

%
sites shows YouTube)
THE MOST FROM THE MOST BY
33 % SOCIAL NETWORKING SOCIAL NETWORKING
more likely Ashton Kutcher 11.2% Lindsay Lohan 8.2%

84 83 41
to express
There’s a sea change afoot their own Justin Bieber 8.5% Ashton Kutcher 6.7%
% % %
WHAT DO
in how Americans discover YOU DO
opinions
and/or 67 % Kim Kardashian 6.2% Kim Kardashian 5.2%
and consume entertainment. ON SOCIAL thoughts more likely
Lady Gaga 4.2% Charlie Sheen 4.8%
That’s the finding of an exclu- consider visiting and posting NETWORK
SITES?
to listen to
or read what Charlie Sheen 1.3% Justin Bieber 4.4%
sive poll by market research on social networking view photos communicate seek recommendations for
others
Taylor Swift 1.2% Britney Spears 2.8%
firm Penn Schoen Berland for sites a form of entertainment and videos with friends movies, TV shows or music
have to say

The Hollywood Reporter. Nine

of 10 respondents view social
networking sites like Twitter
and Facebook as a new form
of entertainment, and more
HOW SOCIAL NETWORKING IMPACTS ENTERTAINMENT CHOICES SOME TV SHOWS BENEFIT MORE
FROM SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES Send THERE ARE OTHER USES
FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING,

27
Almost half of TV viewers tweet about what they’re watching, with comedies benefiting most
than half say social media sites LIKE GETTING THE NEWS 31%

76
are important tastemakers in OF THOSE WHO POST TYPES OF SHOWS PEOPLE ARE Cable news stations
ABOUT TV SHOWS MOST LIKELY TO POST ABOUT Twitter fiend (e.g., CNN, Fox News,
determining what to watch and Television lends itself % KANYE WEST MSNBC)
to social-network are likely to once tweeted
buy. Perhaps more surprising, multitasking more than 70 times
post while
2% CURRENT

56
80 percent of television view- any other medium does. watching TV in 3 hours
While watching TV: Newspapers PRIMARY
ers visit Facebook while they Comedy SOURCE OF
watch. “Social media is the But BREAKING 28%
%
32 NEWS IS ... News websites

79%
connective tissue that enables % 5% (e.g., CNN.com,
consumers to multitask
always or % of people
under
Other
NYTimes.com)

46
during their entertainment sometimes visit DO SO WHILE WATCHING 35 post
experiences by connecting Facebook PROGRAMS LIVE reality during 15% 19%

83%
a show, Network TV Social networking sites
with others and sharing their % while only

51
AND news (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)
opinions,” notes pollster Jon surf the web on sites 11% of
other than social post on social people

70
Penn of the findings, based on networking sites ▲ 8.5 percent of respondents have decided over

38
networking sites
35 do so

41 %
a survey of 750 social net- while watching not to watch Jersey Shore because of SOCIAL NETWORKERS SOCIAL NETWORKERS
work users ages 13 to 49. And % TV to feel Sports something they saw on social networking sites
UNDER 35 OVER 35

30 21 9
tweet about connected to
film moguls, take note: The the show they’re others who might % name social name social
poll found that a majority of watching be watching networking sites as networking sites as
PEOPLE HAVE DECIDED their primary source their primary source
18-to-34-year-olds believe using TO WATCH A TELEVISION % of breaking news % of breaking news

26
social media while watching out SHOW BECAUSE OF
ON AVERAGE, SOCIAL NETWORKERS MULTITASK cable of
SOMETHING THEY READ Cable news News websites
a movie in a theater would 3 OF EVERY 5 TIMES THEY VISIT A NETWORKING SITE news
OR SAW ON A SOCIAL
Have listened to music by an artist
based primarily on what a friend posted is most popular, at 33% are most popular, at 29%
add to their experience, and % NETWORKING SITE on a social networking site

72
nearly half would be inter-
ested in going to theaters •••
HORROR AND OTHER YOUNGER-SKEWING IF YOU USE YOUR MOBILE DO SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
that allowed texting and web FILM GENRES BENEFIT Social network multitasking DEVICE IN A MOVIE THEATER, SOCIAL INFLUENCE WHAT YOU LISTEN
surfing. “Millennials want their MOST FROM SOCIAL NETWORKING also occurs at the movies WHAT DO YOU DO? NETWORKERS WHO TO, WATCH OR PLAY?
(using mobile phones) Wassup?
SAY THEY ARE MORE
public moviegoing experi- Dude. I am totally bored
out of my mind. But I
think that Kate is going
INFLUENCED BY
POSITIVE
to call me any day now.

ence to replicate their own More than 6 percent of respondents

And I just can’t wait. Am

in %
I a loser, or what?!!

saw Paranormal Activity 3 based in

55 % 27% 19%
I am watching such a lame flick!!

private media experiences,” POSTS

Are you at the Quad on 86th?

part on social networking sites Totally!!

says Penn. “Having dedicated

I am in the first row. LOL
text visit make a THAN BY NEGATIVE
message Facebook phone call POST ABOUT MOVIES
social-media-friendly seats, or ON SOCIAL NETWORKING POSTS
social networkers •••
56
even entire theaters, can make SITES AFTER

24% 21 %
has decided to

75
44
And YET ...
the moviegoing experience see a movie in a WATCHING A FILM %
theater because
% of social networkers %
more relevant and enjoyable of something they of social networkers say me a n w h i l e . . . say such sites of social
for them.” — Matthew Belloni read on a social being able to use a mobile Video are important networkers
networking site of Facebookers have
posted about what
they’re watching
of tweeters have
posted about what
they’re watching
phone in a movie theater
would make the experience
distracting and less satisfying
20%
post before
8%
post during
Music
82% 76%
TV shows Movies
75%
games
74%
for making
entertainment-
related decisions
believe they
are not
important

64 | The Hollywood Reporter | 03.09.12 Clockwise from comedy: Sonja Flemming/CBS; Lewis Jacobs/NBC; Al Bello/Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images; Paramount Pictures Clockwise from Kardashian: Joe Kohen/Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images (2); jamie mccarthy/getty images; Jeff Daly/MTV www.thr.com | The Hollywood Reporter | 65
 Thx, bros!

FACEBOOK VS. TWITTER TWITTER USERS ARE MORE LIKELY THAN FACEBOOK

98 56 36 31
USERS TO INTERACT WITH CELEBRITIES
How the social networking giants stack up and who — and what — their users are following

% %
% % of tweeters have
re-tweeted something
a celebrity tweeted
of tweeters have
sent a tweet to
a celebrity

CELEBRITIES MOST ASSOCIATED

OF SOCIAL NETWORKERS OF SOCIAL NETWORKERS WITH FACEBOOK
ARE FACEBOOK MEMBERS ARE TWITTER MEMBERS Mark Zuckerberg 6.5%
◄ Justin Bieber 3%
TRADITIONAL
AND AND
Lady Gaga 2.4% MARKETING
STILL THE BIGGEST
9 of 10 1 of 2 FACTOR IN
visit Facebook at least once a day visit Twitter at least once a day CELEBRITIES MOST ASSOCIATED
WITH TWITTER
MOVIEGOING DECISIONS

40%
Ashton Kutcher 15.2%
Lady Gaga 3.4% ►
FACEBOOK vs. TWITTER FACEBOOK vs. TWITTER Justin Bieber 3.2%
say trailers/previews
WHO IS MORE LIKELY TO FOLLOW ... WHO IS MORE LIKELY TO FOLLOW ... (on a website or in theaters) are
the biggest influencers
actors/
49% companies/
brands 37% 32% actresses 41%
Social networkers 20%
30% sports teams 22% 17% sports figures 25% say
follow twice as many 18% TV ads

49% TV shows 30% 16% reality TV stars 23% celebrities on say speaking
with friends/
journalists/
as they do on . family offline
43% movies 25% 9% 15%
reporters
3other
%
10 %
say comments
Average number of Facebook friends: 271 9 %
say comments or
or reviews
on news and
reviews on social entertainment
networking sites websites

Average number of Facebook friends you speak to regularly: 32

MOVIE MARKETERS HONE

‘SOCIAL LISTENING’ SKILLS
Online chatter on Twitter and Facebook is playing a pivotal role
in how films are promoted before release

w
hen paramount’s microbudgeted horror pic
The Devil Inside opened to a record-breaking $33.7 million
in early January, Hollywood was floored. After all,
traditional tracking suggested the film should have opened
to about $10 million.
But insiders paying close attention to social media knew the film’s potential.
Thanks to “social listening,” a term that is becoming ubiquitous in the movie Clockwise from left:

From Top: ethan miller/Getty Images; VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images; LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images. listening, clockwise
The Vow, The Blind Side

business, more studios are harnessing the power of such mediums as Twitter
and Facebook to understand audiences, generate early interest in films and
gauge box-office prospects long before opening weekend.
Aspect Ratio, an entertainment marketing and advertising company special-
izing in trailers and TV campaigns, is one of several firms vying to provide
studios and independents with listening measurements in the months before
a movie debuts. It’s as simple as monitoring chatter to gauge the tone of con-
versation about a property, as well as who is interested. “After going through
those findings, we are then able to provide concrete solutions to either adapt,
embrace, challenge or mold the film’s message,” says Aspect’s chief marketing
officer, Heather Phillips, who previously headed marketing at Walden Media.
“Then [we] create content in-house to support those solutions.”
More than a year before the planned release of The Host, Aspect has been
working on the big-screen adaptation of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s
adult sci-fi novel that Open Road will debut in March 2013. “Clearly the
fans of Stephenie Meyer are a vocal online group,” says Jason Cassidy, Open
Road’s president of marketing. “We not only want to see what our ‘evange-
lists’ are saying but also see what is grinding the gears of our detractors. How
can we most effectively engage as many audiences as possible and still be
66 | The Hollywood Reporter | 03.09.12
from the vow: Kerry Hayes/SMPSP/Vow Productions LLC.; Ralph Nelson/Alcon Film Fund LLC.; Paramount Pictures.
and The Devil Inside
benefited from social-
media-driven marketing.
authentic to the property?” Paramount has been especially savvy in exploit-
ing social media (witness the Paranormal Activity franchise). Last year, the
studio relied heavily on Twitter and Facebook to promote Justin Bieber:
Never Say Never, which grossed a stellar $73 million in North America.
Recent youth-targeted releases such as The Vow, Chronicle and The Woman
in Black also have benefited from similar online outreach. Stuart Ford’s sales
and distribution company IM Global is working closely with Prescreen.com,
an online VOD platform that has partnered with Facebook. “By tracking
feedback instantly and monitoring traffic on our own website, we can assess
whether our efforts are effective and make changes on the fly,” says Ford.
Film companies aren’t the only ones tuning in to social network chatter: TV
networks and even talent agencies are paying attention to what’s being said
online about upcoming projects and stars (with agents now demanding that
clients get credit for driving online interest via social sites). Still, the major
tracking services — NRG, MarketCast — aren’t going away. “Social media,”
says one industry executive, “is just one voice.” — pamela mcclintock