准备好迎接2013年的社交电视战争了吗？Twitter、尼尔森（Nielsen）和众多公司在2012年排兵布阵，准备在今年大干一场。

    攻城略地在两方面进行：一是社交电视的平台；二是社交电视上数据和收视率的行业标准。作为其中一方面，Twitter正在收视标准领域发力，该公司将在今年跟尼尔森达成合作，将在尼尔森传统的收视率调查服务之外产生一套针对各个电视节目的社交媒体收视标准。在应用层面，数家公司正成长为行业领导者。它们会迅速崛起以进一步吸引观众，并向广告商提供更多后续互动的机会。下面是一些主要的竞争者：

    Viggle由罗伯特•席勒曼创立，他曾以40亿美元的价格将SFX娱乐公司（SFX Entertainment）卖给清晰頻道通信公司（Clear Channel）。Viggle用户确认自己正在收看节目的方法是：拿起手机或设备靠近电视机，这样应用就能对节目进行识别了。这一行动可以得到积分奖励，用户可以在苹果（Apple）iTunes、1-800-Flowers和其他商家那里使用这些积分。很多用户已经从Shazam那里学会了Viggle应用的使用方法，前者推出的顶级音乐识别应用领风气之先，但在电视领域远远不及Viggle。

    Viggle最近收购了GetGlue，后者是它在社交电视领域的竞争对手。Viggle还跟主要的广播电视网——包括全国广播公司（NBC）、美国广播公司（ABC）和特纳电视网（TNT）——建立了合作关系，并被体育节目观众大量使用，因为它推出过一款名为MyGuy的体育幻想游戏。另外，Viggle也成为有线电视服务商用户忠诚奖励计划的一部分，直播电视公司（DIRECTV）就向使用Viggle的自家用户提供了独家的奖励和积分。

    事实上，在社交电视的互动中，体育节目独占鳌头。针对Twitter、Facebook、Viggle和其他平台上的社交互动情况，市场调查公司Trendrr新近发布了一份分析报告。其中提到，在所有与电视节目有关的互动中，体育节目以31%一马当先，而真人秀节目则以17%紧随其后。

    为了不被Viggle打败，Shazam推出了类似的功能，但它跟广播电视网的合作关系较少。Shazam把重点放在了电视广告签到业务上。该公司最近发布了一份研究报告，其中把广告签到跟用户不断增长的后续行动联系在了一起。

    Are you ready for the 2013 social TV wars? Twitter, Nielsen and a host of companies lined up their armies in 2012. They are poised to go at it this year.

    There are two landgrabs going on: the first is to be the platform for social TV, the second to be the industry standard for data and ratings on social TV. Twitter, for one, is making a play for the ratings space as well with its Nielsen partnership to be launched in this year. This partnership will produce a standard social media rating for each TV show to go alongside its traditional Nielsen (NLSN) rating. On the app front, several companies are emerging as leaders. They will ramp up quickly to further engage viewers and deliver more follow-on interactions to advertisers. Here are some of the key competitors:

    Viggle was founded by Robert Sillerman who sold SFX Entertainment to Clear Channel for $4 billion. Viggle users verify the TV show they are watching by holding their phone or device to the TV so that the app recognizes the show. This activity rewards the user with points which they can redeem in Apple's (AAPL) iTunes, 1-800-Flowers (FLWS) and other merchants. Many users have been trained in the Viggle action by Shazam, which kicked off the genre with its top music recognition app, but is well behind Viggle in the TV space.

    Viggle recently acquired GetGlue, a competitor in the social TV sector. Viggle has partnerships with major networks including NBC, ABC and TNT and is used heavily in sports viewing with its companion fantasy sports game, MyGuy. Viggle is also the loyalty rewards program for cable provider, DIRECTV (DTV), providing DIRECTV customers who use Viggle with exclusive rewards and bonus points.

    Sports, in fact, leads all other categories in social TV interactions. Trendrr just released an analysis of social interactions across Twitter, Facebook (FB), Viggle and other platforms. Of all TV-show related interactions, sports led with 31%, followed by reality TV with 17%.

    Not to be outdone by Viggle, Shazam has introduced similar features although it has fewer TV partnerships. Shazam has focused its efforts on TV commercial check-ins. The company recently released a study which correlates Shazam advertising check-ins with increased follow-on actions by users.

    社交电视领域的其他竞争者还有雅虎公司（Yahoo）的IntoNow以及Miso。IntoNow推出了一项名为“CapIt”的新功能，填补了社交照片分享领域的空白。用户可以利用它将电视节目的截图发送给好友，还可以在图片上进行评论。与此同时，Miso刚刚发布了一款名为Quips的新产品，这款移动应用跟CapIt存在竞争关系，它可以让用户分享电视节目中自己最喜爱的一幕，同时也可以添加文字说明。

    Zeebox是社交电视领域的另一个竞争者，它背后有康卡斯特公司（Comcast）的支持。这款应用诞生自英国，被用户称为“电视助手”。Zeebox已经跟美国广播电视网建立了强大的合作关系，其中包括康卡斯特有线电视（Comcast Cable）、国家广播环球公司（NBC Universal）、HBO以及Cinemax。Zeebox提供了数项可以让第二屏观看体验更加愉快的特殊功能，其中包括实时收看的应用内提醒，丰富全面的节目信息，以及一项名为“Zeetags”的功能——它可以让用户浏览节目内容、相关话题以及人物角色，并将用户的社交谈话扩大到应用之外。该应用提供的信息明确具体，而且是针对用户的兴趣和观赏口味量身定制的。

    这些社交电视领域的活动会给尼尔森带来哪些影响呢？这家公司调查收视率的过时模式仍然依赖于美国的一组家庭，他们最初是使用日记本记录自己所看电视节目的。如今他们大多使用电视节目追踪装置，但仍然只是传统家庭的小样本。在进行收视率“清查”（sweep）时，尼尔森仍在使用纸质记录。我相信很多青少年和大学生都在为尼尔森填写这些纸质日记。好吧，也许并没有。

    虽然目前广告商们会继续使用尼尔森的数据作为公共标准，但他们在2013年会向前推进，使用互补性的渠道来评估广告的互动情况以及自己所赞助媒体活动的效果。尼尔森在2010年时曾在社交媒体领域折戟，此后，该公司仍在极力恢复自己在这方面的信誉。一旦尼尔森跟Twitter的合作于今年秋季生效，它就能给尼尔森帮上忙，但依然落后于市场。

    今年晚些时候，苹果电视（Apple TV）、英特尔电视（Intel TV）和其他综合电视设备的推出，将可能进一步对社交电视领域的活动起到推波助澜的作用。借助综合平台，用户将能在观看节目的同时在电视屏幕上进行社交活动。我对2013年的预测是：我们将看到各大广播电视网更直接地参与社交电视，不管是凭借它们自己的应用，还是投资以及重新塑造目前的竞争者。

    以下是对值得我们关注的应用的盘点：

    Viggle：“看电视，得奖励”。使用这款应用查询电视节目，玩Viggle LIVE——这是其生活模拟游戏——和MyGuy橄榄球及篮球幻想游戏时，它会给你积分。然后，用户可以拿这些积分购买礼品卡，或是在星巴克（Starbucks）、丝芙兰（Sephora）和亚马逊（Amazon）进行消费。另外，用户还可以将这些积分作为慈善捐赠捐给美国红十字会（the American Red Cross）等机构。

    GetGlue HD：用户只要进行签到就可以拿到积分、赢取数字贴纸以及获得折扣券。GetGlue最近跟Viggle达成了合作，我们预测它的积分将被整合进Viggle积分体系，从而在网络商家那里获得优惠。

    Other competitors in the social TV space include Yahoo's (YHOO) IntoNow and Miso. IntoNow has introduced a new feature to compete in the social photo-sharing space, 'CapIt', which allows users to send their friends snapshots from a TV show with their captions superimposed on the photo. Miso meanwhile just launched a new product, Quips, a mobile app that competes with CapIt and allows users to share their favorite individual moments from TV shows with captions as well.

    Zeebox is another social TV player and has backing from Comcast. A UK-born app, known to users as the "TV Sidekick," Zeebox has forged strong network partnerships in the U.S. with Comcast Cable (CMCSA), NBCUniversal, HBO and Cinemax. Zeebox offers several perks that make second-screen viewing more enjoyable such as in-app alerts and reminders for live viewing, a robust offering of program information, 'Zeetags' – which allow you to explore show's content, related topics and characters as well as extend your social conversations outside the app. The information the app provides is specific and tailored to your interests and viewing tastes.

    How will all this social TV activity affect Nielsen? Their outdated mode of tracking viewership continues to rely upon a set of families across the U.S. who initially used logbooks to track what they viewed. Now most use TV tracking devices, but still represent a small sample of traditional households. During sweeps, Nielsen still uses paper diaries. I am sure there are lots of teen and college kids filling out paper diaries for them. Err, maybe not.

    While advertisers will continue to use Nielsen as a common standard for now, they will push forward in 2013 with complementary channels to assess their engagement and the activity of the media they sponsor. Since Nielsen's snafu in 2010 on social media, the company is still recovering its credibility in this area. Nielsen's Twitter partnership will help once it kicks in by the Fall TV season, but it is late to market.

    All this activity could be further amped up by the introduction of an Apple TV, Intel (INTC) TV and other integrated TV devices later this year. With integrated platforms, users will see social activity around a show right on the screen. My prediction for 2013: we will see the major networks get more directly involved in social TV either with their own apps or investing in and rebranding the current players.

    Here's a run down of the apps to watch:

    Viggle: "Watch TV, Get Rewards" This app give you points for checking into TV shows, playing Viggle LIVE -their live trivia game and playing along with their fantasy football/basketball game, MyGuy. You then redeem these points to buy everything from gift cards to Starbucks, Sephora and Amazon or you can turn your Viggle points into charitable donations to the American Red Cross among others.

    GetGlue HD: Once a user has checked-in, they can receive points, earn digital stickers and get discount coupons. With the new partnership with Viggle, we predict integration into Viggle points for discounts at network merchants.

    IntoNow：这款应用使用Twitter提供实时的数据和信息，形式包括推文、新闻标题、体育比赛实况报道以及其他用户正在观看的内容。应用新增的CapIt功能可以让用户将电视节目截图以及自己的评论发送给好友。

    Shazam：数以百万计的用户已经在自己的iOS和安卓设备上安装了这款应用，使用很方便。用户可以对广告和电视节目进行标记，以获取更多的信息，其中包括节目编排、琐事、新闻、推文，以及互联网电影数据库（IMDB）和维基百科（Wikipedia）上的演职员表和节目数据，还有歌曲的详细信息。

    Zeebox：这款应用易于使用的频道指南提供了用户友好的节目列表。Zeebox可以让观众方便地访问网络上对节目的评论，并让他们可以在观看直播时相互连接，使其能够在应用内外进行持续的对话。

    Miso：通过对电视节目和电影进行签到，用户可以赢取积分和徽章。Miso新推出的iOS应用允许用户通过Wi-Fi网络跟直播电视公司的接收器进行配对，从而自动显示正在播出的节目。其Quips应用让用户可以将电视节目的截图发送给好友。

    杰克•海达里是一位创业公司投资者，他还是Dice.com的联合创始人和前任首席执行官，其Twitter账号是：@jackhidary。

    译者：王灿均

    IntoNow: Using Twitter, this app features real-time data and information in the form of tweets, news headlines and play-by-play sports updates aligned with what the user is viewing. Its new CapIt feature lets users send TV show snapshots to friends with commentary.

    Shazam: Millions of users already have this app on their iOS and Android devices that makes it easily accessible. Users can tag commercials and TV shows for extended information on programming, trivia, news, Twitter feeds, cast information, show data on IMDB and Wikipedia and song details from soundtracks.

    Zeebox: Easy-to-use channel guide that provides user-friendly listing of show pages. Allows easy access for fans to connect to network content for programs, as well as connect with other fans watching live and generate continuous dialogue inside and outside the app.

    Miso: Upon check-in to TV shows and movies you can earn points and badges. Their new iOS app allows you to pair with DIRECTV receivers over Wi-Fi and automatically displays what's playing. Their Quips app lets users send snapshots to friends from TV shows.

    Jack Hidary is a startup investor and co-founder and former CEO of Dice.com (DHX). Send Jack comments: @jackhidary