AMC is premiering their new series, Halt and Catch Fire on Tumblr a full two weeks ahead of its TV debut. It’s a TV first for the tech drama but seems to be a fairly strategic move. We reported earlier on Tumblr’s huge social TV presence, garnering more than 2x the chatter of Twitter based on a Pulsar study. By incentivizing that audience to engage upfront, Halt and Catch Fire should be well positioned to drive buzz all season.
Tag: social tv
Zeebox Launches Developer Portal
After its announcement of automatic show syncing and recommendations, Zeebox returns to the news with a new developer portal that opens its API to everybody, not just partners. Anybody building mobile and web apps can integrate Zeebox’s guides, social networking, and tagging into their own projects. They can then create synchronized widgets for Zeebox’s own releases as well. Look to see Zeebox functionality integrated into entertainment apps and second screen functions beyond the original Zeebox domain as developers create new paths into the social functionality that Zeebox has to offer.
Nielsen And Twitter Create Social TV Rating
Nielsen has announced a new analytics platform measuring social engagement for TV programs based on Twitter activity. Specifically, the metrics will provide impressions and reach for shows based on tweets, retweets, and replies containing keywords related to the specific program.
The new measurement represents a shift in TV viewing as audience attention often spans multiple screens, particularly on mobile. While companies like Trendrr TV and Bluefin have established social metrics, Nielsen is easily the biggest entrant into the space. Look for their metrics to inform social TV campaigns and second screen programs for today’s leading brands.
“Over-the-top” is the new black
Recently I attended the TV of Tomorrow Conference which focuses on understanding how the interactive multiplatform television industry is structured. It also looks at the emerging business models in this space, and how user-generated content, social networking and other Web 2.0 phenomena are impacting the television space. (Check out Tracy Swedlow’s blog for more on the evolving interactive television industry.)
As a speaker and panelist, I took some time to chat with some industry professionals. Most prominent this year was the universal admission that cable is falling behind in terms of interactive deployments and broadband video or “over-the-top” video services (meaning they ride on top of the broadband bus, but they don’t require any business or technology affiliations with the underlying broadband network) are leading the way with true interactive capabilities.
From Yahoo to Hulu, to the new Boxee…over-the-top is exploding. Continue reading ““Over-the-top” is the new black”
