Virgin Media today unveiled The Hotlist, a new measurement tool that provides an alternative view on TV engagement. The Hotlist sorts the most viewed and talked about shows into an out- of-ten ranking to uncover the hottest shows around.
To calculate what's hot on the box Virgin Media has created a new algorithm - verified by experts at the London School of Economics - which measures social chatter as well as live TV, catch up, on demand and recorded viewing*.
The hottest shows in May** were:
TV programme
The Hotlist ranking (out of ten)
The Graham Norton Show
7.00
Britains Got Talent
7.00
Doctor Who
6.00
FA Cup Final
6.00
The Voice UK
5.33
Eurovision Song Contest
5.33
The British Academy Television Awards
5.00
MasterChef
4.67
The Ice Cream Girls
4.00
The Apprentice
4.00
The British Soap Awards
4.00
With the launch of the UK's first TV on demand service in 1994, cable television fired the starting gun on an entertainment revolution that has set people free from the traditional schedule. Virgin Media has led the way, with the arrival of TiVo changing viewer habits yet again through intelligent search and recommendations which help families navigate through thousands of hours of great TV from all over the world.
With more content available from public and pay TV partners than ever before, either as broadcast channels, on demand, or the best of the web, entertainment consumption is only increasing. At the same time, almost 1 in 4 people (24%) say they now use a second screen while watching TV***. Some reports suggest that nearly two thirds (62%) of viewers across the world use social media while watching TV, with 40% of those people discussing the TV they're currently watching****.
The Hotlist has been developed to provide alternative insights into the full connected digital entertainment experience enjoyed by people today. Starting with established viewing figures, The Hotlist goes on to analyse viewing in different ways, such as recordings stored on the set-top box, as well as social media interaction covering both sentiment and engagement as conversations take place across major social networks.
Key findings in May include:
Graham Norton's Friday night talk hit the top ranking alongside BGT largely due to the huge success of Will Smith and his son Jaden's appearance which was watched by over 11 million fans on YouTube
Eurovision also scored highly, showing Brits are still giving douze' points to the infamous competition
One surprise result was the high ranking of ITV crime drama The Ice Cream Girls which has received high viewing figures and positive social media response, despite mixed reviews from critics
Television Awards drew in 6.2 million viewers to watch Olivia Coleman's double award winning night
May was a big month for event TV, with The British Academy Television Awards, The FA Cup Final and The Eurovision Song Contest making it into the top ten
Nick Forward, director of TV at Virgin Media, said, As the first TV platform to offer on demand viewing, the first to launch BBC iPlayer, and the first to deliver all the public service broadcasters' catch-up services, Virgin Media has been helping families keep up with their favourite shows for many years. With TiVo, we are helping people find the very best content available whilst the rise of social media and second screens is also fuelling a whole new wave of engagement with TV through friends and social circles online. The Hotlist looks to capture that buzz and provide insight into what's hot on TV right now.
Chris Skinner, Professor of Statistics, London School of Economics, said, This algorithm goes beyond standard viewing figures, to draw on new kinds of data, providing an alternate insight into the impact of TV programmes. The approach enables the strength of the audience to be measured and explored in three separate dimensions, viewing, engagement and sentiment, or for these three dimensions to be combined in a simple summary way.
For further information please visit www.virginmedia.com/TV.
Notes to Editors
Notes to editors
* The Hotlist takes three different ways of interacting with TV programmes into consideration: viewing the show (whether it's live or on-demand), engaging with the show socially (engagement) and passionately talking about the show proactively (sentiment). All three factors are weighted to create a score out of ten. Sources include live viewing figures, Virgin Media On Demand, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Each programme in The Hotlist is represented by the best performing episode that month, with the highest viewing figures, highest level of positivity and largest level of engagement. E.g. Britain's Got Talent is represented by the first episode as it provided the highest overall score.
** The Hotlist takes into account the whole month of May.
***www.deloitte.com/view/en_GB/uk/industries/tmt/f0f3f07a77349310VgnVCM3000001c56f00aRCRD.htm
**** www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2012/consumerlab/tv_video_consumerlab_report.pdf
For journalist enquiries contact
Press Office
t: 0207 909 2225
e: pressoffice@virginmedia.co.uk
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Virgin Media today unveiled The Hotlist, a new measurement tool that provides an alternative view on TV engagement. The Hotlist sorts the most viewed and talked about shows into an out- of-ten ranking to uncover the hottest shows around. 
