Social TV Applications
= apps for Social TV
Typology
"One of the main drivers of social TV has been the rampant proliferation of mobile social & TV apps which fall into two main categories:
- TV “check-in” apps: “Check-in” with apps like Get Glue, Miso, PHILO, IntoNOW, TV Chatter and new Aussie kid on the block Twelevision, to share what you’re watching with your friends and, in some cases, earn social currency/rewards.
These apps are directly leveraging existing behaviours for example how many times when watching TV have you gone onto IMDB.com, Google, or YouTube to find out more about a show or actor? How many times have you tweeted or posted to Facebook about the show you’re watching? The various “social TV” apps begin to bring all of this natural online behaviour into a single second screen experience.But if you thought social TV apps were just check-in devices think again as Miso one of the main social TV apps has just announced a partnership with Fox that takes their app one more step beyond “just a check-in.”
Miso CEO Somrat Niyog is aiming the service not just live events but the long tail of TV programs so if you are watching Dexter for the first time you can engage with other fans to see what they said around particular episodes. As more and more TV becomes a “what you want when you want it ‘experience apps like this make sense to engage and add to the viewing experience no matter when you get into watching your favourite new TV series. Rival service ‘get glue’ has also been quick to run promos around key TV shows like scfi classic show the Fringe where subscribers have the opportunity to win props from the show as part of a promo for loyal fans.
- Synced i-Pad apps: enable viewers to get additional content while you’re watching a show with a show specific app such as The Kennedy’s, Oscars, Royal Wedding or a via specific TV network (NBC & Discovery).Perhaps one of the best known ones in the Greys anatomy app which Using the audio watermarks that TV programs typically use for tracking TV ratings, the app can figure out where a viewer is in a program and offer up corresponding content on the i-Pad. This means that in addition to using the app when watching the show live, users can also use the app when watching on a time-shifted copy of the program or when fast-forwarding or rewinding the show.
The i-Pad since its launch is quickly becoming a unique second screen device and a new study by Nielsen reveals where people are using their iPads, and it’s even more evidence that tablets are natural “second screen” devices in front of TV. Compared to smartphones and e-readers, iPads are more TV-friendly, although television also ranks as the top “time spent” (20%) and “situational use” (68%) for smart phones.
It is a trend not lost on Daniel Heaf, Digital Director of the BBC Worldwide, who said in a Beet TV interview that he see’s tablets as an amazing opportunity for long form content
“Whether being on our magazine app or whether on our news app, are much more akin to the types of session times we’ve seen in traditional media apps, like TV and magazines,” he says. “It might not be a fully lean-back event in a way like watching your plasma screen might be, but it’s definitely not a lean-forward experience, it’s definitely not a 3-minute medium.”
Expect the iPad to grow in importance as a quick and easy way to leverage existing TV behaviour and enhance the viewing experience whilst TV manufactures rush to get app content launched on their respective connected TV sets." (http://wcntransmedia.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/the-future-of-tv-is-social-the-revolution-is-coming-a-must-read-article-from-david-wasserman-digital-culture-blog/)