TV competing for eyeballs with iOS social games, networks

That’s right. Social games and social networking apps on Apple’s operating system are now competing for eyeballs with popular television shows and sports broadcasts – and winning.

Flurry’s study found that 19 million American users spend an average of 22 minutes each day on iOS social gaming apps.

That audience tops the likes of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and is on a par with hit shows such as ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”. Even America’s top-rated television show, Fox’s “American Idol”, leads iOS users by only four million daily viewers.

Of course, no single iOS social game attracts the audiences that the listed television programs attract – the iOS figures represent the grand total of all the apps monitored by Flurry.

“There are a lot of conclusions that can be drawn from this phenomenal shift in audience behavior,” writes VP of marketing, Peter Farago, on the Flurry blog. “The most obvious is the impact on the advertisement industry, which has relied on the reach generated by its prime time television slot for years. This season, while Americon Idol is busy shuffling judges, the people have voted: iOS social games are as prime time as prime time television. Enjoy the show!”

However, recent studies suggest that people aren’t necessarily choosing television over social networking, but instead doing both simultaneously.

For example, a study by Intel in the U.K. found that 45% of Brits use sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MSN to discuss a television program while it is still being aired.