The reach and impact of Oscars 2014 Tweets

We typically share the number of Tweets sent during, and about, TV programs and events like the Oscars®. Activity metrics don’t tell the whole story, though. This time around, we want to share a deeper analysis about the global reach and impact of Oscars-related Tweets.

There were 3.3 billion impressions of #Oscars Tweets.

Tweet

From Sunday at 5 p.m. ET until Monday at 5 a.m. ET, here’s how the conversation unfolded:

• There were 19.1 million Tweets sent about the Oscars during that window.
• Those Tweets were sent by more than 5 million people.
• More than 37 million people viewed those Tweets across Twitter.com and Twitter’s mobile and desktop applications. That’s nearly as many as the 43 million people who watched the show.

The 19.1 million Tweets were viewed 3.3 billion times worldwide within a 48-hour window, from 5 p.m. ET on Sunday (March 2) to 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday (March 4). [nb: The original post misstated the measurement window for impressions. It was 48 hours, not 12 hours.]

The way we measure views is by looking at a metric known as impressions: how many times Tweets are displayed to users. On top of that, many Tweets about the Oscars gained exposure across the web, as journalists and publishers embedded them on websites where they could reach a new audience. Analyzing @TheEllenShow’s “celeb selfie” Tweet, the most retweeted in history, illustrates how one Tweet can reach millions of people.

This visual shows how her Tweet spread across the web after she tweeted during the show. By 5 a.m. ET on Monday, it had been retweeted 2.4 million times (it’s currently well above 3 million).

The Tweet was:

• Seen by an audience across Twitter.com and Twitter’s mobile and desktop apps by 8.1 million people — a total of 26 million times.
• It was also embedded on 13,711 web pages. Those embedded Tweets were seen 6.8 million times by 5 a.m. ET on Monday.
• Together, the two make for a combined impressions figure of 32.8 million for Ellen’s Tweet.

That Twitter is a powerful companion to live events, particularly live television broadcasts, is fortuitous. The product was born on mobile, the vast majority of the Tweets that are shared are public, and information flows in real time. These distinctive product attributes are why so many people were able to experience the Oscars through Twitter.

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Oscars® is the registered mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Corporation.

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UPDATE, March 9, 9:25 a.m. PT: In the third paragraph above we’ve corrected the information about the time window in which impressions were measured.