WWE wrestling, ‘Doctor Who’ dominate Twitter TV chatter

Twitter was alive with discussion about actor Matt Smith’s final appearance as the time-traveling protagonist of the long-running BBC science-fiction series “Doctor Who.”

The Eleventh Doctor’s farewell performance, in an episode telecast on Christmas Day, produced 84,000 tweets that reached nearly 1 million Twitter users, ranking it as the second most discussed television show on the social media platform for the week of Dec. 23, according to Nielsen.

Only “WWE Monday Night Raw” attracted more Twitter buzz, producing 113,500 comments seen by nearly 1.3 million Twitter users.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

CBS’ “The 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honors,” ranked as the third most social TV program of the week, with 22,000 tweets reaching a Twitter audience of nearly 737,000. The event lauded soprano Martina Arroyo, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, singer-songwriter Billy Joel, actress Shirley MacLaine and guitarist and songwriter Carlos Santana.

Nielsen’s SocialGuide captures relevant TV-show related tweets from three hours before, during and three hours after an episode’s initial airing, and measures the Twitter audience exposed to these online comments. Its Top 10 most tweeted about TV shows are as follows:

Rank Program Date Network Unique Audience (000) Tweets (000)
1 WWE Monday Night RAW 12/23/13 USA 1,260.2 113.5
2 Doctor Who 12/25/13 BBC America 988.7 83.7
3 The 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honors 12/29/13 CBS 736.5 22.0
4 The Sing-Off 12/23/13 NBC 665.8 33.4
5 Doctor Who: Farewell to Matt Smith 12/25/13 BBC America 611.9 37.7
6 The Real Housewives of Atlanta 12/29/13 Bravo 539.6 51.2
7 WWE Tribute to the Troops 12/28/13 NBC 477.5 26.3
8 WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 12/27/13 SyFy 473.1 39.3
9 Black Ink Crew 12/23/13 VH1 290.3 19.5
10 iMPACT Wrestling 12/26/13 SPIKE 216.7 12.4

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