TV becomes more Social

Over the last few months we have been discussing social and TV together much more regularly with our clients and the industry at large. We believe that the opportunities presented by capitalising on TVs large reach and consumers desire to connect and interact make this the most fascinating area of media development currently taking place.

Our pick of the new services last year was Zeebox, which has now sold a 10% stake in the company, worth a reported $15m to BskyB, with plans to integrate the Zeebox technology into its own range of mobile apps including Sky+ and Sky Go.

US social TV startup GetGlue has just announced a $12m in new financing from new and existing investors. The service, which runs across both apps and website enable users to ‘check in’ to TV shows and other entertainment, while chatting to other people and getting recommendations.

Before this funding round GetGlue was growing strongly with over 2 million users, generating 100m check-ins during 2011.

Other technology companies have been quick to get in on the act. Yahoo acquired social TV startup IntoNow in April 2011, while another US startup – Miso – raised $4m of new funding in November 2011.

Mobile music service Shazam also diversified beyond its core features into TV in the US last year, while an increasing number of broadcasters are launching their own apps for channels or individual shows that include features optimised to provide a deeper experience while watching the shows.

Google launches Google Music

Google have today announced the launch of a new service targeted at music lovers. Google music will operate on Android handsets users in the US, but is expected to launch in the UK soon once negotiations with record labels have been concluded.

The service hosts all major labels so far except Warner Music with whom Google claim negotiations continue. Song costs are between 69c, 99c & $1.29, the same as on Apple's iTunes.

This is seen as a major play by Google in ensuring that its Android based mobile offering can effectively compete with Apple.

Google claim that the service will host more than 13m tracks from Universal, Sony Music and EMI as well as a thousand independent labels. Users are able to buy individual songs or entire albums from computer or Android device and they will instantly added to your Google Music library, and accessible anywhere.

This comes in the same week that Apple has announced a new iTunes Match service, allowing consumers to download a copy of a song on one device and have it available on all their devices.

Both services have more to do with locking consumers into a particular operating system and device through a passion area – music – than it has with a desire to bring more music to the masses.

Social media and TV united with Zeebox

Following on from last weeks post about how social media and TV work together, we have spotted a new app launched last week that brilliantly brings the two together. It is available here http://zeebox.com/

Zeebox is a free app for laptop or iPad, for use while watching TV. It takes advantage of the dual screen phenomenon. This was recently brought to life by a YouGov survey which showed 76% of viewers used the internet, a games console or listened to the radio while watching television - up from 58% in the previous year. It also suggested 43% of British adults commented on or discussed TV shows they were watching using Twitter, Facebook or other websites.

Zeebox gives you information about the show you are watching, what is trending, and even the ability to switch over friends internet enabled TV.

More excitingly are the potential advantages for advertisers. We can foresee a use whereby a company which advertises during a show can be tagged, allowing viewers to click through to a website and purchase products in a simple click, cutting out the need to use search engines or type URL’s.

Anything that cuts the customer journey from exposure to order is to be applauded.

The ability to measure real consumer action is also fascinating. Following a company’s ad, product placement or mention, direct consumer click-throughs can be measured.

The app is new, so exact uses and functionality is still to be developed, but as a first step towards formalising the connection between social media and TV it certainly is an intriguing start.

Using Social Media to Capitalise on TV

Last week our Media Director Elliot Parkus wrote an article for MediaTel discussing his views on how best to harness the power of appointment to view TV shows with social media.

For those that missed it, the piece is available here;

http://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2011/10/26/tv-is-alive-a-kicking-you-just-need-to-join-the-conversation/

Google announces YouTube Movies

The future of TV continues to collide with new media in interesting and innovative ways. Google has today started its UK YouTube film rental service by announcing a number of deals with film giants including Warner Bros, Universal, Lionsgate and Sony Pictures.

YouTube users in the UK can rent films with back catalogue titles available from £2.49 and new releases at £3.49

Similarly to the iTunes renal service, a user will have a 30-day period to watch it, and 48 hours once started to finish it. Google claim there will be over 1,000 films available from day one.

This continues the trend of screen convergence and self -scheduling that we have discussed a number of times in this blog, and envisage growing in its impact on traditional ‘linear’ TV viewing.

Sunday Service

The August national newspaper ABCs are now out, so we are now able to see where the ‘lost readers’ of the News of the World turned to for their news fix on a Sunday.

Firstly, the bad news. Whilst widely expected to be one of the main winners from the demise of the NOTW, and after having experienced a short term gain in July after the closure of the tabloid, the Mail on Sunday actually managed to lose circulation month on month. It lost 150,000 in August. The mid market paper does remain the biggest-selling Sunday title after the closure of Murdoch's tabloid, but average circulation for the title fell 7%month-on-month in August to 2,098,244.

Other Sunday tabloids fared better in August. The Daily Star Sunday, which saw a 130% increase in sales in July, increased sales further by 6% month-on-month to 744,981.

The People, which almost doubled sales in the wake of the News of the World closure, performed the strongest among the Sunday tabloids in August with an 11% rise to 892,033.

The Sunday Mirror remained the top-selling Sunday red-top, with a 6% increase in August to 1,900,460.

The Future of TV?

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding what the future of TV would look like. One possible answer seems to be taking the form of content from Facebook, paid for by Facebook credits.

The BBC has this week announced a video-on-demand app for Facebook that will allow users of the website to rent a limited number of Top Gear episodes. There will three episodes available at a cost of 15 Facebook Credits each (around£1). Once rented, episodes will be available to view for 48 hours.

The Top Gear episodes will only be made available for users in Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This builds on activity last month where BBC Worldwide announced a similar deal with Facebook to allow fans to watch classic episodes of Doctor Who.

The BBC is not alone in using Facebook to distribute content. This week Miramax unveiled a movie streaming service through Facebook at a cost of 30 Facebook Credits (around £2) each. FA Cup sponsor Budweiser have also done a deal with non-league teams Ascot United and Wembley FC to stream the opening game of the FA Cup live.