Network Ten will also use Zeebox for promotion, and plans to integrate Zeebox tech into its own branded apps. Now, Zeebox is looking to bring its technology to the U. In June, I did a video interview with founder Anthony Rose , who showed off what the app is capable of. At the time he told me that Zeebox was looking to nail down partners for its introduction here, and that a launch would come at the end of summer.
Well, August is here, and it looks like Zeebox is on its way to U. According to sources, Zeebox will soon announce a deal similar to its Sky and Network Ten partnerships, through which it will take an investment and also work to integrate its technology into existing apps from Comcast.
Having met with potential American partners, Zeebox is now working with NBC, said several people with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because of the confidentiality of a pending announcement. Viewers are using their portable devices in ways that are disconnected from their TV experience, according to a global survey of 3, people commissioned by Ovum Research, a firm specializing in telecommunications and media.
Zeebox allows people to log in to Facebook or Twitter without ever leaving the app. Users can see what their friends are watching on TV — and potentially sit together on a virtual couch, viewing the same show and exchanging thoughts about what unfolds on TV.
One e-commerce element in the Zeebox application allows consumers to use their mobile device to buy products seen in commercials, or even brands that appear on the screen. Although ancillary digital content works well with reality competition shows, in which the viewer uses a phone or tablet to vote on the outcome, it might detract from more complex scripted dramas or comedies, in which the viewer is focused on the story.
Rose added that Beamly is well aware of the danger of spoilers for viewers who are a little way behind others in a popular series. Zeebox has been adding more features to draw users back regularly over the last two years: Rose said that as people gained the ability to follow shows, they came back twice as often, and that once they could follow people, they came back 10 times as often. He also said that this has changed the kind of people using the app.
When we launched, it was a very male geeky audience, all about remote-controlling and remote-recording and the TV guide: plain utility," he said. It's really resonated with people who want to talk about TV shows. If Beamly can continue to be more mainstream, that's a good thing for the company and its business model, which revolves around TV producers and broadcasters using the app to provide extra interactivity around shows, as well as make money from shopping and advertising. The company also provides analytics on how people are interacting with specific shows, and a Shazam-style "SpotSynch" to help its app identify and "click-enable" individual TV ads.
You might be watching the ad for a car on TV, and can now click in the app, which uses your IP address to work out where you are and get a test drive," said Rose, who added that Beamly is working with broadcasters rather than against them — it wouldn't, for example, sell an in-app ad to Pepsi synchronised with a Coca-Cola ad on TV. On the programming side, Zeebox will have enhanced pages for shows across 28 different NBC Universal networks.
Zeebox has also partnered with HBO to enhance pages for that premium cable network, as well as its sister cable channel Cinemax. To make it easier for others to do so, Zeebox will open its OpenBox API platform so other content owners can build more custom experiences in the app.
That includes adding their own custom branding, exclusive content, and ability to monetize the second screen. That includes using Zeebox as a platform for running ads simultaneously on TV and on the companion app, and also the possibility of introducing e-commerce through the app as well.
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