March Madness/Social TV-Weekly Roundup for 3/12-3/19

Happy first day of Spring everybody! Here’s what happened last week:

For the week of Monday, Mar. 12, 2012- Sunday Mar. 19, 2012, SocialGuide tracked:

• 11,327,326 social TV comments (up 17%)
• 3,532,222 social TV watchers (up 7%)
• 2,690 unique programs
• 3.21 comments/unique

The arrival of March Madness usually causes the following behavior: donning your alma mater’s colors, making frantic predictions for bracketology, and parking yourself in front of the television to watch your picks soar or crumble. For the second year running, every single game of the tournament has been broadcast live on one of the Turner networks – CBS, TNT, TBS, and TruTV – making it possible to indulge in that last part more than ever. SGI reports that six of the top twenty social TV programs last week were NCAA Tournament games.

5. Lehigh vs Duke (190,024 comments)
6. Norfolk State vs Missouri (179,395)
13. Creighton vs North Carolina (128,024)
14. UNC Asheville vs Syracuse  (104,767)
18. UCONN vs Iowa State (109,418)
20. Purdue vs Kansas (115,651)

Unsurprisingly, games featuring first seeds North Carolina and Syracuse garnered huge social media activity, while 15 seed Norfolk State’s totally improbable victory over 2 seed Missouri, perennial powerhouse UCONN’s early exit, and the thrilling 3 point finish between #2 Kansas and #10 Purdue also scored plenty of buzz. The most social #MarchMadness game, however, was 15 seed Lehigh defeating 2 seed Duke in a monumental, bracket-busting upset. While acknowledging the high profile of that particular game (nationally televised on CBS), the rest of the social TV buzz on March Madness appeared evenly distributed across the Turner networks.

Click for source: CBS News

Other highlights:

• Music takes a back seat while zombies, liars, and bachelors drive this week in #SocialTV. Sunday’s Walking Dead finale was the #1 Episode, #2 Most Social Series and Primetime, and #3 Most Social Program overall. #TWDFinale brought in 321,710 comments by 163, 656 uniques. Everyone was joining the #RickGrimes bandwagon; among the top trends were #RickTatorship, #RIPShane, and #TeamRick. Strong opinions were formed about Carl. Check out the most re-tweeted comment from @CollegeHumor: “It’s not a spoiler that Carl is the worst kid ever. #walkingdead #killcarlalready”  and another from @RLBrown3: “So even though Shane tried to kill Rick, Lori’s p****d at him for taking him out? I see where Carl gets his dumbass genes. #WalkingDead” Maybe the team down at AMC will remember this for Season 3…
• The season finale of The Bachelor did well this week. It was #10 Most Social overall, #7 Series, #4 Primetime, and #3 Episode. With a total of 149,199 comments by 86,434 watchers, I don’t think America was necessarily happy with #BachelorBen’s proposal. #TeamLindzi was one of the top hash tags as well as #IHateCourtney. But these were not as harsh as some of the most re-tweeted comments: “That awkward moment when @BenFlajnik proposes to Courtney but he can’t fit the ring over her nasty Cruella DeVil gloves. #TheBachelor” and “I can’t decide if I really really like Lindzi or just really really hate Courtney. #princessprobz” Good luck, Ben.
• Last week, antique dolls gave girls everywhere nightmares (tweeps felt #Creepy #Intense #Scared). ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars was the #2 Episode, the #3 Primetime and Series, and the #4 Most Social Program overall. There were 238,213 comments made by 143,099 uniques. @LucyyHale, who plays Aria on the show, had the most re-tweeted comment: “my favorite tweet of the night …’i hope aria and ezra used protection’” Her and her teacher boyfriend got a liiiiiittle steamy on last week’s episode. There were also more accusations about #ADay. The top trends were #IsMelissaA, #IsJennaA, and, as usual, #WhoIsA? The top comment from @PrettyPinkProbz: “Ok so I pretty much know I’m gonna have nightmares about creepy antique dolls. Thanks #PLL.” Wait until you see the numbers from last night’s #AisRevealed Episode…stay tuned.

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See you next week!

-SocialGuide team