Tumblr wants you to know that it is the social media platform for entertainment, and not Twitter.
The Yahoo-owned blogging network recently commissioned a study by UK-based social media analytics firm Pulsar to analyze TV-related activity on Tumblr and Twitter within an 11 day period in December. Pulsar says it found the volume of TV-related posts were higher on Tumblr than Twitter, when you consider the time five days before and five days after a show airs.
The four shows that were tracked were Pretty Little Liars, Sherlock, Supernatural and Sleepy Hollow.
Twitter may have a greater volume of posts when a show is happening live, but the study shows that the engagement lasts longer on Tumblr. Part of the reason is that content creation on Tumblr takes longer, with users looking to create unique media that is entertaining on its own, rather than just text updates.
“[People aren’t] coming just to check in,” said Lee Brown, Tumblr’s global head of brand partnerships speaking to Ad Age. “They’re coming to dive deeper into the characters, create their own storylines, put text over static images — to create content with a much longer shelf life.”
Tumblr recognizes the many fan communities present on its platform, who post all sorts of images, videos and GIFs related to their favorite movies and TV shows. Much like Twitter did with its TV targeting, Tumblr’s looking to jump start its advertising revenues by leveraging those communities for advertisers.
Recently, it appointed Sima Sistani, a former Hollywood agent, and ex-Yahoo director of mobile ops to the newly appointed position of director of media. It’ll be Sistani’s job to increase Tumblr’s partnerships with broadcast, publishing and entertainment space, and the results from the study will be a big first step towards that goal.
