NBC
Sunday’s NBC debate to feature real-time Facebook comments
This Sunday morning, Republican candidates will gather in New Hampshire for a live debate co-sponsored by NBC’s Meet the Press and Facebook. In advance of the debate, Facebook conducted a poll of a selected sample of residents in New Hampshire and Iowa — via a simple poll in the right column of Facebook.com — asking them to select the issue most important to them. And NBC has been collecting debate questions via Facebook, as well.
NBC show ‘Smash’ to premiere first on Xfinity
You’ve probably seen all the promos for the upcoming NBC show, Smash, premiering on the network on February 6th. But NBC is practicing some synergy with its new majority owner, Comcast, by debuting the show early on Xfinity.
Kelly Oxford and the future of Twitter-savvy TV writers
Kelly Oxford is the latest personality known for her Twitter feed (@kellyoxford) and blog to get a TV deal. NBC will pick up her “single-camera ensemble comedy,” written by Oxford, that will be about a divorcing couple and an overbearing sister.
Since CBS cancelled “$#*! My Dad Says,” there’s been skepticism on the possibility of giving someone who has attracted a large Twitter following a chance to write for TV.
NBC stations partner with Instagram for viewer photos
Several NBC owned-and-operated stations have teamed up with Instagr.am to solicit viewer photos to use on-air and online. While the station sites have their own photo upload capability, the new partnership taps a thriving community of 15 million mobile phone photographers on Instagram.
For example, NBC stations in NY, DC, Miami and Connecticut are inviting viewers to use the app to snap their favorite photos of holiday lights. If you’ve used Instagram, you’ll know you can’t “send” a photo to someone, but you can add a hashtag. In NBC’s case, stations asking users to include localized hashtags on the photo so staff can discover them. NBC says most of its stations have integrated Instagram into their production systems for a seamless way to port them on the air.
NBC teams with Foursquare to track campaign stops
NBC News has teamed up with Foursquare for a project called “Campaign Check-ins.” Beginning in January, NBCPolitics.com will display check-ins from both President Obama’s campaign team and the Republican presidential candidates’ teams as they travel across the country. The interactive maps — designed by Method — will also display real-time check-ins from NBC News journalists embedded with the Republicans.
‘Fear Factor’ dominates social TV chatter [Infographic]
Bluefin Labs has provided us with another fun infographic showing how many people commented on the premiere of NBC’s Fear Factor last night. After a six-year hiatus, the show returned to the airwaves with a bang, both in ratings and social buzz.
The 8 p.m. episode earned 218k comments and the 9p.m. generated 185k comments. Bluefin pointed out that, “for comparison, the season premiere of The X Factor generated 190K social media comments. (And The X Factor is currently the year’s #1 Social TV show in series programming, i.e., not counting sports and special events.)” On the ratings front, the show scored a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demo at 8 p.m. — the best non-sports number in that slot since 2008 — and a 3.5 at 9 p.m.
Where’s in the World is Matt? Tweet for a clue
The Today Show franchise “Where in the World is Matt?” is back, but with a social media twist. While the first clue was revealed on the air today (“It conjures up thoughts of a child’s worst fright, but there are no people to scare in this skier’s delight”), a second clue will be released using something called Hashtag Art.
NBC announces big investment in its local TV stations
NBC Universal announced today it’s investing millions and hiring over 130 new people at its 10 owned-and-operated TV stations. “The new leaders of the company believe in the owned television station division, and they want to see these stations strong again,” said Valari Staab, President of NBC’s local unit. “So we’re moving as fast as we can.”
The investment will add 1,200 hours of new newcasts, launch new consumer and investigative units in five markets, restore promotion departments at all stations, create new sets and expand helicopter coverage.
Christina Milian joins ‘The Voice’ as social media correspondent
Singer-actress Christina Milian will join the next season of NBC’s hit show The Voice as a social media correspondent, replacing Alison Haislip.
“Christina’s extensive musical background and widespread recognition make her the perfect choice for the role of Social Media Correspondent on The Voice,” said NBC’s president of alternative programming Paul Telegdy. “Her experience as a singer will provide a comfort level to our artists when they speak to her about the ins and outs of the competition.”
NBC adds Telemundo to local TV site deal with BIM
Broadcast Interactive Media announced today that Telemundo’s TV stations will soon relaunch their sites on the BIM platform. BIM is already powering NBC’s ten owned-and-operated local TV websites, and the deal with Telemundo adds ten more.
“We selected Broadcast Interactive Media for its revenue-focused approach to site development as well as their flexible solutions including the Developer’s Access CMS model,” said Manuel Martinez, President & General Manager of WSCV-TV in Miami, and the Digital Group’s business leader. “Telemundo is excited about the new partnership and the enhanced functionality BIM’s technology will bring to our staff and end-users.”
NBC Philadelphia checks into Foursquare partnership
The NBC-owned station in Philadelphia has teamed up with Foursquare to bring local news reporting to the check-in service. While NBC 10 is already posting traditional Foursquare tips — “Crab fries, good eats and lots of TV” at Chickie’s & Pete’s — it will now have reporters post news updates at different locations in the [...]
TODAY Show engages concert crowds on social media
It’s summertime, which means the TODAY Show’s concert series is in full swing, drawing big crowds to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NY every Friday morning. This year, TODAY producers are putting social media to work more than ever, encouraging the crowd — and the artists themselves — to share tweets and photos. “Our concert fans [...]
NBC News taps @InsideCongress for special
Updated: Talk about timing, Obama announced the debt crisis deal in between the East and West Coast airings of NBC’s Inside Congress special. Brian Williams and team quickly updated the show, which of course, was captured in a photo and RT’d on the @InsideCongress account. Earlier: Several months ago, NBC News scheduled a massive, one-day [...]
NBC News teams with Facebook for Republican debate
On the Sunday before the New Hampshire Republican primary, NBC’s David Gregory will host a live Republican debate that lets Facebook users participate in the event. The special Meet the Press will also stream live on Facebook, msnbc.com and NECN.com. “While it’s been said that all politics is local, today it may be more accurate [...]
The team that made ‘The Voice’ a social TV hit
There’s no doubt that NBC’s new hit The Voice has set a gold standard for how to create a live broadcast in the age of the social web. Coverage on the show’s ratings and social media success continues to pour in since the first season’s finale last week.
The genius behind the digital success (and the fact that The Voice has been one the most aggressive shows to integrate Twitter on the air) is that social media isn’t seen as a marketing vehicle but as core to the entire production. Here’s an in-depth interview with Andrew Adashek, the Digital Producer for Mark Burnett (and startup guy) who shared how his team of social broadcasters are creating new roles within the Hollywood production chain.
What were some of the biggest successes?
For sure, the Twitter engagement and to connect with the audience in real-time and making it accessible to the coaches and artists. Giving the artists access right away. A lot of shows would sequester, whereas we were actively encouraging it. One of the bigger successes, we were able to pull back the chains. To grow organically.
What were some of the guidelines you gave to the coaches?
We didn’t want people to give spoilers really far in advance, don’t tell anybody, don’t spoil things that would ruin it for everyone, may not ruin the competition but there’s a certain element of surprise that would be fun. Also, profanity. Artists could use their own twitter accounts. We couldn’t show favoritism towards any one artists. We had to remain neutral, we had to give a fair amount of coverage and just play neutral. We wanted everything to be open and personally.
What was the relationship like with Twitter?
Twitter was super helpful in sharing what was working with us and showing us, and pulling back the vail and saying what was helpful. They gave us the tools we needed to fine tune #thevoice (when to put it on-air) and putting it up at key moments in the show so people were in control. Also to make that single hashtag let peopel connect universally on twitter around the show. They helped us see when we would see spikes in activity, when activity would slow down. When we hit the Social Media Room, we’d see great deal of buzz. We were pulling in interesting commentary from the viewers at home, who had awesome opinions.
How do you get a tweet onto live broadcast?
On our side, we’d pull in filter for the tweets we were looking for. We had a rundown of what we thought would happen next, what performances, I’d think about that experience and customize everything about the show. Real-time watching the show and watching the television. Things change very quickly without us knowing, so we’d need to update the filters.
If there’s an episode where two artists kissed, we’d look to see what people are saying. You have to be real-time. Then we would take all the information go through standards and legal. We built all the pieces so it would connect from that system to the expression which would actually show it on air. We would have it down to 15seconds from real-time to get it through everyone on the air. That’s probably what took by far the most energy and development to get it real-time through all of those pieces….
NBC debuts ‘second screen’ social TV app
While a couple networks have launched companion apps for individual TV shows, NBC has launched a “second screen” app for the network. The NBC Live iPad app (iTunes) integrates synchronized quizzes, fun facts, behind-the-scenes nuggets and conversations. It works on selected TV shows, and we took it for a spin with last night’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” [...]
NBC gets social for the Royal Wedding
NBC News is covering the Royal Wedding wall-to-wall, and there are several interesting hooks to social media, from Twitter and Facebook to an iPad-iPhone app. For starters, NBC plans to cover the big event on @royalwedding, a “hyperactive look at everything royal wedding,” says Ryan Osborn, NBC News’ social media director. “We’ll be posting links [...]
NBC Local debuts ‘The 20′ Twitter influencers
As promised last year, NBC Local Media stations are rolling out “The 20,” an initiative that taps the top Twitter influencers in each market to help curate local news and issues. “The 20″ has debuted in the form of Tumblrs in New York and Washington D.C., described as “a home for incisive commentary and coverage” [...]
