The rapidly growing Social TV experience is a trend for Christian Media to stay on top of.
The Viacom Social TV Study, May 2012, defines Social TV as the ability for viewers to communicate, access content and interact with friends via a second screen.
The dominant screen is the smartphone with 82% of respondents, in the study, indicating it as their preference. The tablet is a distant second at 18%.
It’s not surprising that these devices are in use while we’re watching TV. Nielsen indicates that 69% of tablet users and 63% of smartphone users are on their devices multiple times per week, while watching TV.
Traditional TV networks and shows are starting to display hashtags. But social networking is more than hashtags and mentioning tweets, and herein lies the opportunity for Christian Media.
It starts with production
Churches, media ministries, and broadcasters are producing material every week. By starting to experiment with the way we produce content, we can find ways to drive active participation around every conceivable spiritual topic and aspect of the gospel.
Working jointly – writing and production, marketing, distribution – we can enable targeted audiences to connect with the speakers and with each other, broadening the reach and impact of our message.
It’s one thing to watch a sermon, worship experience, or ministry event and it’s another to experience it.
You’ve just streamed a message on overcoming adversity to accomplish God’s will. How can you use social technology platforms to draw your viewers in? How can they participate? What actions do you want them to take? How can you use your influence to lead people from virtual experiences to real life experiences?
Keep in mind, engagement doesn’t stop at the end of the streamed event. Social is ongoing and 24/7.
It’s live AND on-demand
Presently, Social TV is primarily a live TV experience for traditional broadcasters. Reality TV, the Grammys, the Oscars, political TV events. And it’s hot. The first of three presidential debates generated 11.2M social media comments across Twitter and public Facebook. That’s more than all three nights of the Republican and Democratic conventions combined (7.0M).
But with the advent of streaming video networks, Christian organizations can experiment with social networking on the Web, where we are free from many of the constraints, mainly the costs, of traditional TV experimentation.
Christian organizations can integrate Social TV into live streaming video programming, on-demand video streaming, and near-demand video streaming (where content is not available 24 – 7, but rather is provided on-demand within time constraints).
It’s local
Since local engagement is at the heart of all social media, Christian Web TV networks will be uniquely positioned with their unparalleled partnership with America’s leading churches and ministries and their investment in the local viewing experience by way of working with local broadcast partners.
Viewers of these regional networks will receive Social TV benefits including synchronization of weekly messages and contextualized conversations around spiritual content and information most relevant for that region.
Social TV can be set up to work across all regional Christian Web TV channels and programs. Viewers can invite specific friends to join them for “viewing parties” and then chat about the content or get together for coffee to discuss.
Social TV is in its nascency. We have to flex our creative muscles and begin to work on production and distribution systems for these things, to intentionally design experiences with the second screen in mind.
It’s the next generation
Social TV and digital storytelling is not about entertaining people but engaging them with the gospel. It is the next generation of Christian TV programming.