Facebook: ‘With TV, primetime is all the time’

Combining the power of TV with social media can significantly benefit engagement with content, according to Nicola Mendelsohn, VP EMEA, Facebook.

Delivering a keynote speech at the PromaxBDA Conference in London, she told delegates from the content marketing and creative communities that the proliferation of devices had meant significant changes both in Europe and across the Atlantic in terms of TV consumption and interaction. “We no longer have a water-cooler moment, the water-cooler travels with us, in our pockets and in our handbags,” she noted, suggesting that the power of TV comes from the conversations that it sparks.

She said that research indicated how Facebook and TV could work better together every single day. “Up to a quarter of TV audiences are posting content about a show on Facebook as they are watching it and about 80 per cent of that chatter is on mobile devices,” she advised. “TV content is among the Top Ten things people are talking about on Facebook … there is an opportunity from the frequency with which people are coming back to Facebook. They told us that digital technology was supposed to kill mass audiences, but actually it is helping to unlock them. When you combine TV and Facebook together, ‘primetime’ is really about ‘all of the time’.”

She identified three ways she felt Facebook and TV could work even better and closer. Firstly in pre-building audiences, secondly in harnessing talent, and thirdly in continuing the conversation.