Twitter has bought two social TV firms as it looks to build upon its links with real-time TV events, giving the social network more clout with broadcasters and advertisers.
The deals see Twitter snap up Parisian firm Mesagraph and the London-based SecondSync.
Details of the terms were not confirmed, but both the companies, which provide analytics to broadcasters and advertisers about how people engage with television, will be working out of Twitter’s London office.
Purchasing SecondSync has an additional benefit for Twitter: in January, the company announced a partnership with Facebook to provide analytic data to the social network- a deal that will no longer go through.
“Twitter is the only place that hosts a real-time, public conversation about TV at scale,” reads the statement from SecondSync. “By joining Twitter, we will be able to help take that experience, in concert with the rest of the TV ecosystem, to the next level, particularly in markets outside the United States. Our current UK product will continue to be available for an interim period.”
It is not clear whether the statement means that the company has been sold or simply that the team have been hired by the social networking company. Second Sync provides overnight analysis of TV ratings and the impact of social media through an agreement with Kantar Media, who were also an investor.
Mesagraph runs a web-based platform called Meaningly and works with broadcasters in France such as Canal+, France Télévisions, M6, and TF1.
As well as the acquisitions, Twitter has extended a partnership with international market research firm Kantar. The two companies began working together to develop a suite of analytics tools for the British TV industry in August 2013, and expanded to cover Spain in October.
The new five-year agreement will see the firms sharing data and tools to better understand social TV trends. “Twitter plays host to a real-time, public conversation at scale on all manner of topics— including television,” said Twitter’s chief operating officer, Ali Rowghani. “We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Kantar beyond media measurement, to other areas that impact their clients.”
Twitter’s part of the deal sees the firm building the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, which provides an official metric for TV channels of how well a show is doing on social media.
Read the second Sync blog announcement here