Introducing Social TV in Practice
Posted on April 29, 2009
Posted by Tom Turnbull
A few weeks ago we quietly redesigned our full-episode TV applications (The Office, Family Guy, House, etc.) and added a new set of “Social TV” features. We did this discretely, as we had no idea whether they would get any traction. Well, they did. In a big way. We saw our engagement numbers dramatically shoot up – like a 50% increase in video viewing session length (which is now over 14 minutes, on average).
With this validation, we are now ready to talk about “Social TV” in actual practice.
We spend a lot of time thinking about how, why, and where people watch TV. Traditionally, we all sat on the couch and watched our favorite shows. Typically, although not always, it was a lot more fun to watch with friends and family in the room.
With the advent of Hulu.com, and other services, we can now watch our favorite shows in many more places. Furthermore, much of this content is moving to mobile (e.g., TV.com’s iPhone application). At SplashCast, we are primarily focused on presenting TV content within the social web, that is, Facebook and MySpace.
The value of traditional TV is the big screen and the comfort of the couch. The value of web TV is convenience (not to mention being able to watch at work). The value of mobile TV is true portability (being able to watch anywhere). There are also great reasons to watch TV in the social web.
Why watch TV in Facebook or MySpace? There is an obvious difference with this medium: the “social graph.” In Facebook and MySpace, users can communicate with their network of friends and interact in unique ways. This is the value of Social TV versus the traditional web, mobile and the couch.
So what are specific examples of Social TV features now in SplashCast? One that we are particularly excited about is a feature called “Chatter.” True to current trends in social media, it is a new type of stream. Chatter allows users to easily add text-based commentary as they watch an episode of a TV show. These comments become aggregated with all previous viewers’ commentary and are presented as a stream that is synched with the video, as opposed to real-time. The fact that Chatter is done in “video time” versus “real time” creates a unique experience of revealing the community’s collective reactions to a TV show as it unfolds. It adds a completely new dimension to watching TV, and gives you a reason to watch the same episode of your favorite show over and over again. Often, the Chatter is more interesting than the show itself.
See screenshot of Chatter in The Simpsons application below.
Chatter has been wildly successful. In a few short weeks, there have been hundreds of thousands of Chatter messages generated. Far more interesting is the fact that time spent in SplashCast applications has increased by 50%. We have been amazed.
This success demonstrates that Social TV is more engaging and fun. Beyond Chatter, SplashCast is testing out a range of Social TV features, such as user generated polls (we will discuss polls further in an upcoming post). Our product roadmap is loaded, but we are determined to keep our applications easy, fun, and simple.
Finally, from a business model perspective, Social TV features have been very useful. For example, SplashCast is able to present in Chatter advertisements tied to campaigns. We have already seen Chatter used to help drive ad campaign performance.
Please let us know what you think about Chatter and the concept of Social TV generally.
See related coverage in TechCrunch and Mashable.
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[…] Well, the time for rejoicing is at hand, my friend. Thanks to Portland-based SplashCast and their latest endeavor, “Social TV.” […]
Fantastic. Nice coverage in TechCrunch and Mashable!
[…] Well, the time for rejoicing is at hand, my friend. Thanks to Portland-based SplashCast and their latest endeavor, “Social TV.” […]
It really is a revolution again.
Your blog is very interresting for me, i will come back here..
[…] not Splashcast is selling their entire business or only a portion so that they can focus on their recently announced product named “Chatter” which brings a social element to mainstream video viewing. One […]