WARC
recently reported about brands such as Levi & Monster testing out social tv
apps to help them connect with consumers in an environment of blurred and integrated
media
The app they have chosen to use is Showyou, which recently became open to
advertisers. Showyou is an app that gathers all your videos shared from friends
through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc and houses them in one personalised
viewing platform. The other key feature for Showyou is that you can now easily
comment, thank or share any of your videos though Facebook, twitter etc. It’s
ideal for people who are overwhelmed by the amount of video content on the net
and what to find the most relevant and recommended video for them. It’s also
great for the social aspect. People can now easily let others know what videos
they are watching.
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| Showyou |
When I first thought about the brands running video
commercials on the site I thought it sounded like another example of boring
& unoriginal advertisers placing the same old content in a new popular
media space. However, Levi is planning on running 30sec commercials, which they
claim will be engaging, and original content. They want to use the site to find
out what stories and their viewers find more interesting and news worthy. This
is what changed my mind. I realize the content served really does have to be
interesting and original otherwise Showyou viewers simply wont click on it and
the advertisers will be wasting time and effort. In a sense viewers really will
have the power to influence what type of content is show supporting the content
that provides them with value and ignoring the content that doesn’t.
There is a different kind of social tv app that I
stumbled across which I really like. The app is called PEEL and it collects tv shows and movies from
multiple sources such as Live TV, your DVR & Netflix and houses it in the
app. Once Peel knows what you like it will recommend other shows for you. You
can also share what you are watching and find out what friends are watching.
You can add comments and ratings too.
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| PEEL |
Peel taps into the trend of media multi tasking in
a brilliant way. Using the latest season of American Idol, Peel integrated a feature
that allowed users to tap the screen in order to cheer or boo contestants continuously
through each performance. Each contestant and Judge is then given a rating
based on your input of cheering and booing. After the voting is done all the
users results are tallied in a leaderboard.
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| Techcrunch.com |
You can also immediately download the song through iTunes.
The app is not officially linked to American idol. However, if Peel gets the
formula right, you can imagine the TV networks would seriously consider the opportunity
to partner up. This could significantly increase the potential of the app and engagement
with audiences at home. I can envisage a show that ingrates home audience
ratings into the result of the real show. Perhaps studio audience vs. home audience?
The potential is huge and it is a brilliant way to change the dynamic of tv as
simply a broadcast medium.
What do you think of the concepts of Showyou &
Peel? Can you think of other applications for this type of customization or
interactivity?
