Bluefin will analyse how viewers react on social media sites to events such as presidential and vice-presidential debates, Republican and Democratic conventions, election night and the inauguration.

The firm will provide data visualisations of social media activity which ABC News can use in its coverage.

In a statement ABC News said: “Bluefin Labs’ technology provides a real-time view into social media conversations about TV – volume of social buzz, topics of conversation, sentiment and trends.

“This technology allows us to tap into voters’ reactions and bring TV viewers into the conversation.”