MTV debuts ‘Under the Thumb’ app with co-viewing features
MTV has launched a new social TV app in Europe that targets the “always on” generation with hundreds of hours MTV content. But besides your standard video mobile experience, the Under the Thumb app has two unique co-viewing features. The first is a remote control that allows users to play full-screen MTV video via a web browser on their computers, tablets and connected TV sets.
How to create the best Facebook Timeline for your newsroom
Your newsroom’s Facebook brand Page is getting a facelift. Starting March 30th, all brand Pages on Facebook will go to the new Timeline format. You have between now and then to get your Timeline setup and ready for release. Here are a few tips to get you started:
ESPN to stream college hoops games on Facebook
In a first for the sports network, ESPN will stream live NCAA basketball games on Facebook. It’s an extension of ESPN3′s distribution, so that means users will have to be qualified (via an affiliated internet provider) to watch ESPN3 in the first place. And ESPN3 won’t stream the tournament — just the 225 men’s and women’s Championship Week games, which get underway on Thursday. Still, it’s a big move to bring live, valuable video to Facebook.
TODAY, ESPN unveil new Facebook brand pages
This morning Facebook launched the timeline designs on brand pages, starting with the TODAY Show, ESPN’s Sportcenter, NY Times and People.com in the media industry. The TODAY Show announced the new product release on air this morning (video), illustrating how users could scroll back to some memorable moments in TODAY’s history. While a few brands were given an early shot, anyone can preview their new pages now, and it appears you can choose to publish the new designs when you’re ready.
New Apple TV launching along with iPad 3?
Apple sent out invitations today (right) for a March 7th event that appear to confirm the company will unveil a new iPad. But there’s mounting evidence that a new Apple TV — or something along those lines — will be unveiled at the same time, too. If you visit just about any Best Buy, Fry’s or similar electronics store, you’ll discover that they’ve been sold out of Apple TV units for the last couple weeks, both online and in stores (we’ve checked several times over the last two weeks). When asked, Best Buy said they didn’t know when they’d receive any more shipments.
What you may have missed at Hill Holliday’s TVnext Summit
The long anticipated TVnext event took place yesterday at Boston’s beautiful Institute of Contemporary Arts. As promised, the structure of the event, the length of the panels and the case-study focused content created a general consensus both at the event and on Twitter, that Mike Proulx and his agency did well. The Social TV book that recently went on sale officially launched at the conclusion of TVnext. Lost Remote is acknowledged and featured throughout the book on several occasions.
Fear of social spoilers drives live TV viewing, finds survey
TVGuide.com’s Christy Tanner released a new survey at the TVnext Summit today which looks at the age-old question, does social media drive ratings? According to a survey of TVGuide.com users, it does: 17 percent of respondents say they have started to watch a show and 31 percent say they have continued to watch a show because of a social impression. And 71% of TVGuide.com’s respondents say they’ve seen social messages about TV shows.
Oscars falls short of social TV records Super Bowl, Grammys
Updated: Despite what seemed like a million social media and second screen integrations (see our list of the best Oscars social media moments), last night’s Oscars fell well short of the social TV records set at the Super Bowl and the Grammy Awards. Trendrr gave it a 3.2 million social activity score, compared to 17.5 for the Super Bowl and 17.1 for the Grammys. Bluefin Labs measured 3.8 million social media comments for the night, compared to 13 million for the Grammys and 12.2 for the Super Bowl — but still, that 3.8 million is up 293% compared to last year’s Academy Awards.
An exclusive look at BRAVO’s TVnext presentation on ‘Last Chance Kitchen’s’ transmedia success
While you watch today’s highly anticipated TVnext event taking place in Boston (live stream), keep an eye out for BRAVO’s Lisa Hsia’s 10:15am ET talk. Lisa gave us an exclusive look at her presentation and the impressive stats she’ll be talking about. Lisa’s about to give a presentation on the social success of BRAVO’s Top Chef Last Chance Kitchen. Some of the successes included growth of those catching up on the show via mobile, which Hsia describes in her presentation as part of the “transmedia” highlights of the show’s digital successes.
Watch the TVnext Summit live all day
Hill Holliday’s second annual TVnext Summit gets underway at 9:30 a.m. ET today, and you can watch it live here on Lost Remote all day. The social TV event has a great lineup of speakers and panelists, from top digital network execs (ABC, Bravo, BET, CBS, Discovery, NBC and USA) and social TV startups (Bluefin Labs, Dijit, GetGlue, Miso, Shazam, Second Screen Networks, Social Guide, Trendrr, Viggle) as well as execs from Comcast, Xbox, TVGuide and more.
Best (and worst) social TV moments of the Oscars
This year’s Academy Awards on ABC was infused with social media and second-screen experiences, top to bottom. So much so, we were juggling apps and devices — three different hosted live streams during the red carpet show — which was a bit out of control. While the show didn’t offer many (if any) smashing viral moments, there were some terrific second-screen developments and a few memorable social media tidbits:
Your social media guide to the Oscars [preview]
Updated: The Super Bowl social TV numbers were off the charts, then the Grammys — by one measure — unseated the big game as the most social event in TV history. And with the Academy Awards this weekend, media and social TV companies are gearing up for another huge event. We’ve gathered (and we’re still adding to) the most comprehensive social media preview for Sunday’s show: the Oscars is bringing back the Backstage Pass, a second-screen experience on Oscar.com and free apps for the iPad and iPhone….
Conan’s Team Coco launches second screen tablet app
Conan on TBS becomes the first late-night show to launch its own second-screen tablet app. The Team Coco app (iPad and Android tablets) offers a plethora of video clips, behind-the-scenes photos, Conan O’Brien’s blog and other companion content, but the interesting addition here is a synchronized experience that ties to the show, both live and on demand. A countdown inside the app lets you when the next live episode will be on the air….
KABC partners with Trendrr for Oscars social buzz
The ABC station in Los Angeles, KABC has partnered with Trendrr to power “the pulse of Oscar buzz” in its red carpet coverage this Sunday. KABC will showcase the 20 most talked about topics in social media in its “On the Red Carpet” show, both on-air and online. During the show, KABC correspondent Tina Malave and style expert Lawrence Zarian will draw from Trendrr’s real-time analysis in a segment called, “Red Hot Right Now.” Viewers can access the same leaderboard online — sponsored by Blackberry — and clicking a trending topic will show the social conversation behind it.
How Streampix will help Comcast’s social TV push
The cable MSOs have long been accused of lagging in product innovation while boosting prices. Meanwhile, web-based services like Netflix and Hulu have grown market share, helping create a new demographic of “cord nevers.” But over the last few months, Comcast is fighting back, unleashing a barrage of new products: second-screen Xfinity apps, a cloud-based set-top experience, social TV integration and now its own streaming service, Streampix.
Storify brings social media curation tool to the iPad
The social startup Storify — used by many TV newsrooms — took the wraps off a free iPad app today that brings its social curation tool to the tablet. Just like on the site, you can drag-and-drop social media elements to create an embeddable story.
“We’ve heard your many requests and have been working hard for months on Storify for iPad, which we believe will jumpstart storytelling on the iPad,” explains Storify. Here’s a quick video demo:
How Zap2it uses social TV to create more ad opportunities
Updated: In a social TV world where check-ins can be made by anyone, there are still a few handful of publishers that provide TV journalists and experts that review, report and editorialize what’s worth watching and what’s not. Zap2it.com is one of these sites, published by Tribune Media Services, and it describes itself as “what to watch,” and “where to watch it.” Through partnerships and integrations with SocialGuide, check-in functionality, Facebook commenting and creating branded opportunities like “Most Social TV Show Now,” Zap2it is paving the way for how online publishers covering entertainment need to embrace social TV to keep up with and curate the right content from the social web.
NY Knicks top the social TV charts for #Linning [Linfographic]
There are multiple levels of hilarity to think that a basketball sensation turned internet meme is the cause of (my favorite team) the New York Knicks triumph back into the positive media spotlight. If you’ve been hibernating and don’t know who Jeremy Lin is, check out The New York Times’ topic page on him and just read through the headlines to understand what an unbelievable journey it has been for both him and the Knicks.
How The Weather Channel is mastering mobile social advertising
When The Weather Channel launched a new version of their iPad app in October, we wrote about how they’re the “largest location-based services company in the world.” The Weather Channel was just honored by “Advertiser Perceptions” for the work they’re doing in the mobile space. Their monthly audience is a whopping 163 million monthly unique visitors…
TV brands offer social viewing via Facebook Timeline apps
Back in November, a small group of news sites became the first to launch “Timeline apps” on Facebook. These apps allow users to share what they read with their friends, so-called “frictionless sharing.” Today, Facebook announced that several TV brands are launching Timeline apps that also share what people are watching with their friends: msnbc.com, TODAY.com, The Daily Show, MTV News and the CBS stations in New York and Los Angeles.
