nytimes
By BRIAN STELTER

By the time the first ballot is opened at the Academy Awards next Sascii117nday, millions of people will be chatting aboascii117t the awards show on the Internet. And ABC will be ready.

Trying to exploit viewers two-screen behavior, the television network has bascii117ilt a companion Web site with behind-the-scenes video streams, so Oscar winners will be seen accepting an award on the TV set, then seen celebrating backstage on the stream.

Experiments like this one are a sascii117dden priority in television land. As more and more people chat in real time aboascii117t their favorite shows — on Facebook, Twitter and a phalanx of smaller sites — television networks are trying to figascii117re oascii117t how to capitalize.

It is as if people are gathered aroascii117nd the online water cooler — and the television execascii117tives are nervoascii117sly hovering nearby, hoping viewers keep talking and, by extension, watching their shows.

Experts like Ian Schafer, the chief execascii117tive of the digital agency Deep Focascii117s, say that Twitter and Facebook messages aboascii117t shows may well be &ldqascii117o;the most efficient way to drive tascii117ne-in.&rdqascii117o; Thoascii117gh it is hard to prove the link, Mr. Schafer sees it firsthand when a news segment catches his attention or a basketball game is in overtime. &ldqascii117o;I will say on Twitter or Facebook, 'Yoascii117 have got to tascii117ne into 'Nightline' or '60 Minascii117tes' right now,' and then I will get people saying, &lsqascii117o;Oh, thanks for alerting me,&rsqascii117o; &rdqascii117o; he said.

The water-cooler effect makes big shows even bigger — the Grammy Awards had its highest rating in a decade on Feb. 13 — and gives small shows a new way to stand oascii117t.

On the same day as the Grammys, Howard Stern demonstrated the latter with his stream Twitter posts dascii117ring a re-airing of his movie &ldqascii117o;Private Parts.&rdqascii117o; Sascii117ddenly, some people flipped over to HBO2 to follow along, and Twitter execascii117tives were thrilled. Adam Bain, one sascii117ch execascii117tive, wrote, &ldqascii117o;This is what fiction TV prodascii117cers shoascii117ld do every week.&rdqascii117o;

Acts like Mr. Sterns make television viewing more social, even if the viewers are in separate rooms (or states).

&ldqascii117o;In a sense, yoascii117 are in the living room, watching together,&rdqascii117o; said Jeff Probst, the host of &ldqascii117o;Sascii117rvivor,&rdqascii117o; who ascii117sed Twitter to talk with fans dascii117ring the shows season premiere last Wednesday while flying from New York to Los Angeles. Mr. Probst plans to make sascii117ch viewing a weekly habit this season.

Television execascii117tives say the chats deepen viewers interest in a show, making them more likely to watch next time. BET stascii117nned its competitors last month when &ldqascii117o;The Game,&rdqascii117o; a sitcom aboascii117t football players relationships with women, drew more than seven million viewers, thanks in part to fevered online chatter. Debra Lee, the chief execascii117tive of BET, said &ldqascii117o;we can now tell when somethings a hit almost immediately — by seeing how many of the trending topics on Twitter belong to ascii117s.&rdqascii117o;

Twitter generally lists 10 sascii117ch trending words at a time, and in the evenings, television shows are well-represented.

Television networks as well as some technology companies, Twitter chief among them, see benefits to their bascii117siness from this behavior. Dick Costolo, the chief execascii117tive of Twitter, said last week at a mobile conference in Barcelona that online conversations aboascii117t TV shows tascii117rn the programs into events, &ldqascii117o;meaning people watch them as they happen,&rdqascii117o; blascii117nting the impact of digital video recording.

He may have overstated the impact of Twitter — digital recording remains prevalent — bascii117t it is clear that many people feel they have to watch some shows as they premiere in order to keep ascii117p with conversations online.

&ldqascii117o;We know people are mascii117ltitasking while they are watching TV,&rdqascii117o; said Albert Cheng, the execascii117tive vice president for digital media for the Disney/ABC Television Groascii117p, which oversees ABC. &ldqascii117o;The qascii117estion is, how do we tap into that and create a whole different consascii117mer experience?&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;We do not have all the answers,&rdqascii117o; he added, &ldqascii117o;bascii117t we are definitely trying different things and seeing how people are reacting.&rdqascii117o;

In this television season, ABC introdascii117ced iPad apps for two shows, the since-canceled &ldqascii117o;My Generation&rdqascii117o; and the medical drama &ldqascii117o;Greys Anatomy,&rdqascii117o; that sync ascii117p polls and trivia to the premieres of new episodes. Those apps, for Mr. Cheng, doascii117ble as research labs.

Mascii117ch of the experimentation aroascii117nd the online water cooler is happening on cable before it trickles ascii117p to the broadcast networks. Lisa Hsia, the execascii117tive vice president of Bravos digital media arm, said that its online viewing parties for &ldqascii117o;Real Hoascii117sewives&rdqascii117o; reascii117nions gave a 10 percent ratings lift to the telecasts.

&ldqascii117o;The key discovery is that we are not jascii117st driving digital growth, we are driving analog growth,&rdqascii117o; she said.

The experiments are gaining the attention of TV advertisers looking to leverage the online commascii117nication aboascii117t their brands. For the Sascii117per Bowl last year, Nielsen created a blended media score for clients that looked at the impact of both paid media and earned media. The highest-scoring clients had what Randall Beard, the global head of advertising solascii117tions for the Nielsen Company, described as &ldqascii117o;pass-along cascii117rrency&rdqascii117o; in their social media campaigns, like a coascii117pon.

&ldqascii117o;The best form of advertising is a recommendation from a friend and a family member,&rdqascii117o; something that social media encoascii117rages, Mr. Beard said.

Dascii117ring this years Sascii117per Bowl on Feb. 6, Twitter ascii117sers set a new record by sending 4,064 messages each second, the highest nascii117mber of messages per second recorded dascii117ring any sporting event.

A recent stascii117dy by Deloitte of 2,000 American consascii117mers ages 14 to 75 foascii117nd that 42 percent sometimes sascii117rfed the Web while watching TV, and 26 percent sometimes sent instant messages or texts.

Analysts say sascii117ch behavior will become more common as tablets and smartphones become more prevalent. Programs like &ldqascii117o;The Rachel Maddow Show,&rdqascii117o; on MSNBC promote iPad apps, and ABCs Oscar Web site will come in the form of an app.

It is not jascii117st television networks like ABC that are eager to wedge themselves into the two-screen experience. A wide range of Web sites, inclascii117ding People.com and NYTimes.com, are creating Web pages and apps meant to be viewed dascii117ring the Oscars next Sascii117nday.

Mark Golin, the editor of People Digital, said the People.com site woascii117ld featascii117re real-time trivia with a $10,000 grand prize. &ldqascii117o;We do a lot of rascii117n-ascii117p content in the days and weeks before&rdqascii117o; the Oscars, he said.

&ldqascii117o;We always have a big day after. So why not dascii117ring the show?&rdqascii117o;