AUTHORS

Disruptomatic
Angela Natividad
Angela Natividad is a freelance copywriter, journalist and strategist based in Paris. She co-founded AdVerveBlog.com, a blog and podcast about ads and design, and writes MarketingProfs' “Get to the Point!: Social Media” newsletters. She likes people and animals, but not as much as books.
Tweet her @luckthelady.
James Martin
James Martin is the community manager of music & TV tradeshows midem & MIPTV/MIPCOM. He edits their respective industry news & trends blogs (blog.midem.com & mipblog.com) and also covers video games and technology for French cultural weekly A Nous Paris
Tweet him at @jamesmart_in
Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge is a freelance journalist based in the UK. He writes about digital music for Music Ally, and about apps and mobile for The Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Appside, as well as his own Apps Playground site.
Tweet him @stuartdredge

Sky Sports iPad app gets second-screen features

Here’s something to think about if you’re a Zeebox, a GetGlue or any of their (many) social-TV second-screen startup rivals. British satellite broadcaster Sky just gave its Sky Sports for iPad app a second-screen update.

What’s that? Well, until now, the app was mainly a way for Sky subscribers to watch Sky’s sport channels on their tablet – when away from home, for example, or unable to wrestle control of the living-room TV from non-sport-loving family members.

Now it’s also a second-screen aid to watching, say, live Premier League football on that bigger box. Users will get a Football Match Centre section with stats galore on players and teams, as well as a “curated Twitter feed with aggregated football fan commentary”.

Just the sort of thing the social TV startups are looking to do, in other words.

And while there’s still an argument for people using one app to get second-screen and social features for all the shows they watch, the fact that broadcasters like Sky are looking to own this second-screen relationship with viewers is undeniably a challenge to the likes of Zeebox.

Oh, which as you may remember, took investment from BSkyB earlier this year…

Grr! WWE gets a second-screen wrestling app

When I was hugely into American wrestling back in the glory days of the WWF, second-screen action was out of the question: if I was distracted from the action, it would only be to try and suplex my little brother into the fireplace, emulating my heroes.

(It’s okay, he’s fine. I wasn’t very good at suplexing. And we didn’t own a fireplace. Actually, this whole intro has rather spiralled out of control…)

Anyway. Rebranded as WWE after a spat with the wildlife folks, the WWE has continued to be one of the biggest sports entertainment brands in the world. And what kids nowadays want to do, seemingly, is second-screen their way through all those televised suplexes. Hence its new iOS app.

You get news and videos – the latter being a mixture of new and archive clips – but the real meat comes with the second-screen features, designed to be used while watching the weekly Monday Night Raw broadcast.

The idea being to foster the community of wrestling fans around the broadcasts, including encouraging them to meet up at official events. And, of course, sell them stuff too, with an in-app shop.

Zeebox opens its latest consumer survey data to all

Looking for some good stats on device ownership and usage in the US and UK, including second-screen habits? Zeebox is your friend.

The social TV startup has published its latest consumer research findings as a Google Doc, viewable by all, with the invitation to play with the data. “I’d love to know what patterns people find,” says director of insight David Boyle.

A few example stats: 41% of UK consumers use social networking sites while watching TV, while 25% look up information on the show they’re viewing’s subject or topic. Meanwhile, 4% of Brits say apps are “a passion of mine” versus 26% for music.

Here’s the Google Doc, see what you make of it.

(Source: Guardian)

Sidecastr social TV app is a tweet-timeshifter. Well, timeshiftr…

The problem with a lot of social TV apps is that you have to use them at a specific time. Zeebox is no use to you for Mad Men episodes if you’re time-shifting them a few hours or days after their initial airing.

Sidecastr is a US iPad app that aims to be more useful. If you’re timeshifting your TV viewing, it timeshifts the best tweets about that show too. And it then even timeshifts your own (timeshifted) tweets. It’s enough to make your head spin.

“Sidecastr lets you experience a moment by moment replay of the best of the social TV content stream, even when you’re watching later. And because Sidecastr’s storage and playback of the social stream remains alive indefinitely, you can even add new comments long after an episode first airs, which in turn reaches fans who are watching after you.”

For now it’s Twitter-focused, although Facebook features are apparently coming in the next update. Most definitely one to watch – not least for a battle royale to come in the US with Zeebox (on its way across the Atlantic as we speak), Shazam, GetGlue, Miso and others.

iPad app NHL PrePlay is heartening on several levels for anyone who’s been following the growth in second-screen TV apps. First, because it goes beyond the check-in, getting people to predict the outcome of “every faceoff, power play, penalty shot, and more” while watching ice hockey matches on TV, earning points and trophies to compete against their friends. Second, because sporting body the NHL is fully on board, partnering with startup Pre Play Sports for the app, which also has sponsorship from beer brand Molson.

iPad app NHL PrePlay is heartening on several levels for anyone who’s been following the growth in second-screen TV apps.

First, because it goes beyond the check-in, getting people to predict the outcome of “every faceoff, power play, penalty shot, and more” while watching ice hockey matches on TV, earning points and trophies to compete against their friends.

Second, because sporting body the NHL is fully on board, partnering with startup Pre Play Sports for the app, which also has sponsorship from beer brand Molson.

At the recent MIPTV conference, there was lots of talk about how localised social TV apps tend to be: a few in the US, Zeebox in the UK, Teleglu in France and so on. Now India has a second-screen check-ins app: Amplyfy Me for Android. Okay, it doesn’t look super-pretty, and its features have been seen before in apps like GetGlue. But the difference here is it has Indian channel data, and presumably more of a shot at striking deals with broadcasters and producers there to do cooler stuff…

At the recent MIPTV conference, there was lots of talk about how localised social TV apps tend to be: a few in the US, Zeebox in the UK, Teleglu in France and so on. Now India has a second-screen check-ins app: Amplyfy Me for Android.

Okay, it doesn’t look super-pretty, and its features have been seen before in apps like GetGlue. But the difference here is it has Indian channel data, and presumably more of a shot at striking deals with broadcasters and producers there to do cooler stuff…

45% of tablet-owning Americans use their device while watching TV every day, with 26% doing it several times a day, according to a new survey by Nielsen. “The most frequent tablet or smartphone activity across all countries while also watching TV was checking email — either during a commercial break or during the show,” explains Nielsen. “Yet device owners also seem to engage with content related to the TV as well, either by looking up information related to the show or looking for deals and general information on products advertised on TV.”

45% of tablet-owning Americans use their device while watching TV every day, with 26% doing it several times a day, according to a new survey by Nielsen.

“The most frequent tablet or smartphone activity across all countries while also watching TV was checking email — either during a commercial break or during the show,” explains Nielsen.

“Yet device owners also seem to engage with content related to the TV as well, either by looking up information related to the show or looking for deals and general information on products advertised on TV.”