THE HOME OF SOCIAL TV

How CBC’s ‘Cover Me Canada’ leveraged social voting [Interview]

I recently wrote that a television property has yet to exist where the voting was solely on social. I was delighted when Tessa Sproule, CBC’s Director of Interactive Content tweeted at me to tell us about the social voting “Cover Me Canada, a reality elimination music show,” that aired on CBC from September to November.

Social TV app Viggle launches with real-life rewards

Earlier this month, we previewed Viggle, a new social TV app that’s the brainchild of former American Idol exec Robert Sillerman. Today, Viggle hit the iTunes Appstore (iPhone right now), and we gave it a spin. Viggle is based on rewards — not badges or stickers — but gift cards from Amazon, Starbucks, Burger King, iTunes and freebies like an iPod Shuffle and one month of Hulu Plus. To earn these rewards, TV viewers accrue points by checking into broadcasts, setting reminders for upcoming shows, watching videos, playing games and taking quizzes….

Networked Insights analysis of the State of the Union

Twitter and Mass Relevance put out some very interesting data the State of the Union, and now social TV data company Networked Insights has provided us with a deeper analysis of what social comments can tell us about the president’s TV broadcast to the nation. Social TV data continues to be fascinating. From the top level analysis on the biggest moments to infographics that paint a picture of the ongoing conversation, boring traditional TV ratings better watch out for companies that have technology and know how to listen in the right places at the right time.

Xbox 720 will be 6 Times as powerful as current generation

Netflix bounces back with a Q4 beat, but says Amazon is coming

Netflix streaming users now outnumber DVD subscribers 2:1

Making movie trailers on TV more social, meet MoviePal

Social-savvy TV junkies usually scoff at the idea of watching commercials. DVRs, Netflix, iTunes and the on-demand culture have made TV commercials for much scripted content, irrelevant. There is an exception though when it comes to movie trailers. Trailer and film junkies get hooked up Apple’s trailer site but those who fall into the genre of of, I watch insane amounts of TV but rarely see movies (like myself), coming across a trailer that entices me on TV can get me to get off the couch. The obvious thing to do after seeing a trailer is to google it for more information but often it takes way too many clicks to get to the showtimes you want, the list of characters you want to see or the music that was in the background of the trailer. Now there’s an app that makes this whole process easier. Meet a Shazam/IntoNow for trailers, meet YouWeb’s MoviePal.

Top five reasons to attend #TVnext 2012

While I’ve yet to hear an agency present itself solely as a social TV shop, Hill Holliday has definitely built itself an impressive backbone of thought leadership in the space through the work of Mike Proulx and Stacey Shepatin who authored a brand new Social TV Book, that’s coming out soon. Proulx led a case study panel at the Social TV Summit and is now gearing up to produce his company’s second annual social TV event, #TVnext 2012.

Most-tweeted moments of the State of the Union (infographic)

Twitter has put together an infographic analyzing the tweets from last night’s State of the Union debate. It counted 766,681 tweets that referenced the State of the Union or one of its hashtags, as well as 548 tweets from members of Congress. The top moment was President Obama’s joke, “I guess it was worth crying over spilled milk,” which generated 14,131 tweets-per-minute.

Bluefin Labs lands $12 million round, ‘huge’ year ahead

Another investment in the social TV space: the social TV data company Bluefin Labs just closed a $12 million series B round led by Time Warner Investments. Bluefin measures conversations around TV shows and commercials, and then sells that data to programmers, distributors, agencies and advertisers. “2012 will be a year of huge growth at Bluefin Labs,” explains Deb Roy, co-founder and CEO. “With this funding we will continue to invest in R&D and build out our sales and client service offerings.”

Social TV startup ‘TV Dinner’ launches with funding

Another social TV company has entered the space aiming to create a, “refreshingly unique real-time experience,” according to their release. New York-based “TV Dinner” (for iPad) is focusing on a big gaming element for the second screen. They’re launching with a strong opposition to the idea of the TV check-in, a concept that GetGlue seems to be banking off of but that others are skeptical of in regards to long-term sustainability as a platform.

10 most retweeted comments of the South Carolina debate

Brooklyn-based SocialGuide published their findings on the ten most retweeted comments from last Thursday’s Republican debate. For the debate, they tracked close to 400,000 comments from over 100,000 unique users, making it the second most social program according to their charts. Another interesting piece of data they pulled was the influence of those participating. “The average of 929 followers per unique commenter, the highest of any program that day, and more than 2x the average across from December,” according to SocialGuide. They even calculated that each commenter had an average of 4 comments, “making it the most socially engaged program on Thursday.”

Starz Spartacus launches social game for season two

We recently wrote about Starz growth and their use of social TV. Now, the premium cable channel and their digital media arm has launched a new social game for the premier of their hit show Spartacus, a gladiator drama. The game will launch on January 27th on Facebook when the season premiers. Social TV games are great. Creating a game, on the largest social platform for passionate fans, is the perfect way to keep fans addicted while the show isn’t on the air.

Fox’s ‘Touch’ to launch globally to capitalize on social media

On the eve of NATPE, the programming conference where top TV execs come to buy and sell content, FOX and Uniliver have announced a global deal to launch Kiefer Sutherland’s new show “Touch” simultaneously around the world. The reason, according to Marion Edwards, president of international television for Twentieth Century Fox Film Distribution? “They can access episodes immediately after they air here. They can follow on Twitter. It’s all part of this huge informational universe where everyone feels very up to the moment.”

Volkswagen aims to repeat Super Bowl ad success

Last year VW released its Super Bowl ads several days before the big game, and “The Force” (the adorable commercial with the kid dressed as Darth Vader) became a viral hit on YouTube. By the time the Super Bowl rolled around, everyone was talking about it. As I wrote last year, the preemptive strike was a stroke of viral genius, one-upping all the other advertisers battling to become the most-buzzed commercial of TV’s biggest annual event. Today, that clip on YouTube has 48 million (free) views.

Oscars.com gears up social efforts for 84th Annual Ceremony

Ever since the whole Eddie Murphy debacle that ended in Billy Crystal trending into a role as host, we’ve been unsure what to exactly expect from the 84-year-old awards. While the Oscars and their Academy will never lose importance, there’s definitely a sense of excitement around wanting things to change. After two young hosts didn’t turn out so well (Franco even quit Twitter after the Oscars) Billy Crystal is tweet-announcing and getting involved in some cool antics early on.

SnappyTV launches ‘Pro Editor’ in time for State of the Union

SnappyTV is one of the social TV startups that make you excited about the evolution of social TV. The startup that won “Best Idea” at the first Social TV Summit just announced that they are launching a new “Pro Editor” for bloggers to debut during the State of the Union Address this Tuesday at 9pm ET. The San Francisco-based startup is out to conquer an important issue that faces everyone sharing content around social TV. “Do you ever notice that when you see something great on TV everyone talks about it on Twitter, but it takes hours or longer for that clip to show up online?” Ever since Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift and YouTube lawyers raced to take down the clips, social TV lovers have been waiting for a solution.

Using Facebook advertising to drive tune-in, meet Adotomi

Facebook is quickly becoming a backbone of social TV. With new timeline integrations from Netflix, Hulu, Boxee and more announced this week, the social powerhouse could very much start to look like a second-screen app for television discovery. Even Slingbox is now on Facebook and while it’s not a customized app, slingers can watch all their linear programming on Mark Zuckerberg’s college hack.

‘American Idol’ breaks social TV premiere record [Infographic]

American Idol premiered last night, and the numbers were outstanding on social. According to Bluefin Labs, there were a record 518k comments compared to Jersey Shore’s launch, which had only 410k comments. The premiere also beat the most social episode of the X-Factor, which they said had 391k comments (see infographic below). The question now remains if The Voice’s season two — which premieres Superbowl night — will score big ratings and social TV comments. Buzz around the game might take away from the premiere, but a guaranteed enormous audience might still make the 518k number look tiny.

Former ‘Idol’ exec invests millions in new social TV app Viggle

The man who launched American Idol is getting into the social TV business. Robert Sillerman announced today that his new company, Function(x) will soon debut a TV loyalty app called Viggle. By checking into various TV shows — the app will come with audio recognition software — viewers can earn points that can redeemed for rewards from companies such as Burger King, Sephora, Fandango and the Hulu Plus service. The company says the app (which is launching soon) will highlight shows with “check-in bonuses.”

USA debuts ‘White Collar’ on Miso SideShow

Last month Miso debuted a new feature that allows TV brands to create their own synchronized second-screen experiences, a sort of “Wordpress” for social TV. The SideShows, as they’re called, appear inside the Miso app itself: a collection of companion content all tied to a timeline, appearing at precise moments in a live or recorded TV show. Using a publishing tool, brands can easily create their own SideShow.