Week In Review: Facebook Is The Bernie Sanders Of Social Media; Mashable, Turner and Putting The Internet On TV
- Facebook Is The Bernie Sanders Of Social Media
It’s all about dat chart.
ComScore released some research yesterday that revealed that Facebook is the Bernie Sanders of social networks, with numbers for the 18 to 34 year old demo so far ahead of everyone else they appeared to be on a different chart.
That’s huge, as a different outer borough-born candidate might say, in that it proves that, no matter what the tech blogs might be telling us, Facebook is still king of all audience segments, able to deliver against twenty year olds… and their grandparents.
The fear (or the assumption, take your pick) had been that Facebook was losing the youth vote, that they were all defecting to Snapchat and Instagram and that Facebook would no longer be relevant
Seems that’s definitely not the case.
And while we’d be curious to see how the younger end of that 18-34 demo stacked up against the older end, the numbers are so overwhelming that any variation will prove to be a footnote rather than a trend.
Why It Matters
Television. Facebook is planning to become a force majeure in the TV industry, and as such, they need to be able to show they are relevant with the Millennial audience, as they are most likely to be the ones watching TV via Facebook.
This month will see whether the rumors of Facebook launching an HD version of Facebook Live in advance of the Upfronts are true and if the social network is going to try and become a TV network, or something that looks a lot like one.
The ability of Facebook execs to wave the ComScore chart at network execs is going to be a big help in any current and future negotiations as well, since audiences of that size are not easy to come by… or ignore.
What You Need To Do About It
If you’re a TV network, you need to make sure you’re using Facebook Live right now and figure out the ways it can help you and your network to promote your programming. Mostly you need to stop the knee-jerk response of “get me Snapchat” for all your youth-oriented programming. Snapchat is wonderful, we love them, but clearly your younger audience can be found on Facebook too, and with the imminent changes to Facebook Live, they may be spending even more time there.
2. Mashable, Turner and Putting The Internet On TV
Buzzfeed did it. Vice did it. Vox too. So it only makes sense that Mashable, one of the leading internet publishers is going to make the switch to TV too, via a recently announced deal with Turner wherein the Atlanta-based broadcaster (and Time Warner subsidiary) is going to invest $15 million into a project that includes production of TV-ready video content.
That’s all we know right now, but it’s safe to assume that content will be available online, live and via VOD. The Mashable brand is a strong one and it’s breezy, insider style focusing on tech sets it apart from its online brethren.
Why It Matters
Because despite all the nonsense about TV being dead, this is what actually happens in mature industries when business models change: the more prescient old guard companies buy up or invest in the new ones. It’s a way for the upstarts to reap the rewards of their hard work and savvy, and for the established players to remain relevant to a new audience. In an ideal world, each benefits from the other’s expertise too.
What You Need To Do About It
If you’re an old guard media company and you haven’t started to look at these types of investments, it’s time you did: most of the obvious ones have been plucked, but you should be able to find some hidden treasures.
Brands should definitely be looking for various types of ad opportunities on these new platforms, while thinking about what the alternative to interruptive advertising might be on platforms that will be open to tactics like branded content.
