THE HOME OF SOCIAL TV

Inside story of Puppy Bowl’s big social media splash

Super Bowl Sunday can be enjoyed without ever watching a second of football. Even if you’re not excited to see the New York Giants destroy the New England Patriots for the second time, you can tune into one of America’s favorite events of the year, Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl, who’s recent press release is the funniest I’ve ever read. Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl VIII has reported some extremely impressive numbers on how they leveraged social on a day when everyone assumed all eyeballs were on a football game….

Don’t miss the best Social Media Week panel

Social Media Week is back, and it’s bigger and more globally spread than ever before. Lost Remote (specifically myself) will be moderating the leading social TV panel in New York. Social Media Week Advisor Peter Himler has organized an impressive group of panelists on both the network/content side and social TV startup side. We’re extremely curious to hear in person how some of the top movers and shakers in this business are planning the year ahead. If you’re in NYC on Thursday, February 16th at 10am, don’t forget to stop by the Hearst building to watch us moderate a panel with the following executives.

TV ‘cord cutters’ and ‘cord nevers’ increase, finds Nielsen study

A new report by Nielsen reveals a rise in homes with over-the-air TV and a broadband connection, but no cable, satellite or IPTV service. It’s still a small segment of the overall U.S. population (5% of households), it’s grown 22.8% over the last year. While this group still watches much more traditional TV than broadband-delivered video, it watches half as much TV and streams twice as much video as the general population.

Amazon inks licensing deal with Viacom to add streaming TV shows

Disney, Univision in talks on English-language cable news channel

Advertisers' free ride may end on Facebook soon

How should TV newsrooms break stories on Twitter?

Sky News and BBC are both in industry headlines this week for changes to their social media policies that ensure reporters and editors alert the newsroom before breaking news on Twitter. The BBC explains: “When they have some breaking news, an exclusive or any kind of urgent update on a story, they must get written copy into our newsroom system as quickly as possible…”

WSB-TV showcases anchor retirement on social media

When WSB-TV’s Monica Pearson announced her retirement on Monday after 37 years on the air, it was big news for Atlanta. After all, she worked through seven presidencies and six Georgia governors, and the state’s population doubled during her tenure. WSB not only splashed the news on air, but on social media — “Monica” even became the #2 trending topic on Twitter nationwide.

Social TV startup Flingo receives $7 million in funding

We wrote about Flingo in November and learned that BitTorrent cofounder Ashwin Navin had built a company that develops smart TV apps across multiple platforms. Navin hinted at some big social TV announcements that his company would make, and they launched with A+E Networks to make your remote more social.

Connected TV company says second-screen apps are distracting

For the Super Bowl, the connected TV marketing company CTV Advertising conducted a survey. It worked with ten heavy-consuming TV viewers (“couch consultants”) around the country, and asked them to fill out questionnaires before and after the game about “companion applications,” with an emphasis on synchronized advertising. And the results are in:

Biggest, record-setting social media moments of the Super Bowl

Updated: The Giant’s fourth-quarter victory help the Super Bowl become the biggest social TV event in history so far. Bluefin Labs says it counted 9.3 million social media comments, surpassing the previous all-time record high of 3 million held by the MTV VMAs. Trendrr said this year’s Super Bowl had approximately 5X the social activity over last year. The data is still coming in, and here’s our early crack at the biggest social media moments of the Super Bowl…

Super Bowl will be a big second screen moment

Note: Make sure you’re following @lostremote for our live-tweets during the Super Bowl for the best social media moments during the game.

Nearly 60 percent of mobile phone users will be checking their devices during the Super Bowl, according to a new survey by Velti and Harris Interactive. And about half (47%) of all viewers say they expect to check up to 10 times during the game. “There’s no going back now from the fact that the Super Bowl is truly a two-screen experience,” said Krishna Subramanian, Chief Marketing Officer of Velti.

Inside look at how Logo’s ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ is using Tumblr

Logo, “the entertainment network for savvy and trendsetting adult viewers from Viacom Inc.,” has had some big social TV successes with it’s highest rated show, RuPaul’s Drag Race. For the fourth season, the network has developed a multi-legged social media blitz to compliment the linear launch. “Highlights include a fantasy football-like game on Facebook, live Tweeting with cast members (past and present) during show premieres, Tweets from fans displayed on TV during show premieres, and live animating GIFs on Tumblr,” according to the network.

The day you’ll know social TV has arrived

A new wave of conferences, meetups and events has swept through our convention halls in the last 18 months. TVnext, Social TV Summit, TV of Tomorrow, NewTeeVee and others bring together media, startups and vendors to discuss the future of television. After attending many of these and following all of them I have deduced a way to measure the arrival of “the future of television.”

There is a vast ecosystem of new technologies, social media strategies, digital marketing tools and analytical systems under the umbrella of social TV. Most people think of this new phenomenon as viewers using new digital offerings to socialize while consuming video content. The attendees of “social TV conferences” are therefore from digital product, digital marketing, social media, mobile and research groups.

How ABC Family is engaging its passionate ‘Pretty Little Liar’ fans [Interview]

Saved By The Bell, 90210, Melrose Place, Dawson’s Creek, The O.C., One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl and now Pretty Little Liars, (a show about four teens who are in a bit of a “I know what you did last summer,” scenario), has captured teens, tweens and more by fulfilling that addictive urge for a good, fun, corny, juicy teen drama. A few years ago, I began writing about television in college when an obsession with Gossip Girl caused me to compare the inaccuracies of the Girl’s NYU depiction. Now that we’re living in a world with a social web that’s more mature, and widespread passion is very easy to hear.

Shazam announces long list of ad partners for the Super Bowl

As the Super Bowl shapes up to be the biggest social TV event of the year, Shazam just announced the details about their part in the festivities. “The entire Super Bowl experience – including ads, the game itself and the halftime show – will incorporate Shazam for TV to enable fans to experience more of TV’s biggest sporting event,” the company explains. Almost half of the Super Bowl TV advertisers will be Shazam-enabled, and users who tag the game can access up-to-the-minute statistics, participate in polls and purchase merchandise.

Local stations jump into social TV with ConnecTV

Last November, ten broadcast groups partnered with social TV startup ConnecTV in a major bet on the second screen. Later today, the ConnecTV experience is launching online and for the iPad (now available), and we were given a sneak peek to see how the product works. As a quick recap, the partners make up a who’s-who list of broadcasters….

How Theatrics’ Beckinfield is creating the future of social TV acting [Interview]

Television is a mass medium that reaches millions of people. Right now, TV is mostly passive when it comes to the run-of-show and plot built into the stories that are told by producers, directors and writers. Social TV apps like GetGlue and Miso aim to let you socialize around TV content and Youtoo hopes to create an easy way to upload snippets of video content that can then appear on broadcast. But there’s another approach by a company called Theatrics, which has named it “Mass Participation TV” or MPTV.

How the Super Bowl became the year’s biggest social TV event

Updated: It’s official: every single major Super Bowl media investment has a social TV component. Brands with hopes at leveraging the big game to reach consumers have recognized that investing in buzz during the event isn’t enough. To truly capitalize on those millions that they’re about to spend on a commercial spot, they must hype the social web like never before. Shazam has a big announcement coming up, and it has already said it will power up to a third of the ads during the game. Brands are buying promoted tweets linking to articles about their upcoming ads and are leaking teaser clips across YouTube. The NFL has launched a Social Media Command Center. Social TV apps are gearing up for the big night and journalists can’t stop chatting about all aspects of the big night. Here’s how:

Obama shines in Google Plus Hangout, and that’s the point

President Obama has been popping up in live events and town halls on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and now in a Google Plus hangout, chatting with 5 lucky (and pre-selected) Americans in a live video stream. Over 130,000 total questions were submitted, and we’re waiting for the final audience numbers from Google+. Just as FDR triumphed on radio and JFK on TV, Barack Obama shines in social media circles with an upbeat, easy-going style.

Skipping TV for YouNow, the future of reality programming

If you don’t watch reality television, you’re probably lying. From Survivor to Big Brother, to the Kardashians and Jersey Shore, reality TV has changed the way television is produced forever. There are books written on the subject, classes taught at universities and there’s even a school dedicated to the profession. The NY Reality TV School is “pioneering the development of reality TV training.” The founder of the school is Robert Galinsky who even created a “Reality School Game Show.” Galinsky recently decided to terminate a deal with Dick Clark Productions in favor for producing the show on YouNow, “a social video platform that allows users to broadcast live video & interact with their audience in real time.”