Twitter increases its focus on social TV by buying analytics firms Mesagraph and SecondSync

Twitter wants its social network to be the definitive place for advertisers and broadcasters to promote their shows, and to that end it’s just gobbled up TV analytics specialists Mesagraph and SecondSync.

Mesagraph runs a web-based platform called Meaningly, which gives users the ability to pull “meaningful insights” around specific topics based on what’s being tweeted about in near real-time. The Mesagraph TV API then builds on that by offering custom streams and analytics based around live TV shows.

That expertise could come in handy for Twitter, but it’ll also be eyeing up the partnerships Mesagraph already has with French TV networks such as Canal+, France Télévisions, M6, TF1. These are the broadcasters that Twitter wants to target with its ad services and Twitter Amplify program, which gives brands the ability to publish in-Tweet clips and other exclusive content.

SecondSync is also being swept under Twitter’s wing. The UK-based firm operates in a similar ballpark to Mesagraph, analysing social media conversations around TV shows, and will give Twitter a similar skill set for its growing TV ambitions.

“Twitter is the only place that hosts a real-time, public conversation about TV at scale. 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,” a post on the SecondSync website reads.

Interestingly, SecondSync received an investment from Kantar Media, which today also announced a new partnership with Twitter in order to bring the social network’s TV ratings to the Nordics, Russia, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Earlier this year, Facebook partnered with SecondSync to give marketers greater insights into how people were talking about TV on the social network. The collaboration started with data for the US and the UK, although it’s unclear how that relationship will proceed after Twitter’s acquisition is completed.