Lost Remote Does Video Feature On Our Live Guide App
8.28.2012—We’ve been getting some video-love lately, and rightfully so! This time, Boxfish has made its way onto Los Remote’s video news show, The Pulse, which covers all things digital and innovative in the TV space. I’d say we fit the criteria.
Countdown: Just One More Day Until Boxfish is Available in the App Store
8.13.2012—Tomorrow, August 14th marks the day we’ve been working hard to get to, when you can experience Boxfish ON THE SECOND SCREEN! Details for how to get the app will be on here and spread through every means possible as soon as it’s available for download.
It’s the end of the beginning , essentially, but we are just getting started on what the potential that the index of television can provide to you, the user. There will be some exciting in development in the months to come, so stay tuned and thanks for sticking with us.
One Network Makes a Move Toward The Future of TV
7.19.2012—Yesterday’s Pew research report showing that over 50 percent of TV watching adults do so while on a mobile device is a glimpse into what the future holds for TV/2nd screen interaction. While I am sure that broadcasters took notice, Mashable published a piece by Brian Solis about how cable network USA has already announced their plan to provide viewers a with a TV experience that spans multiple screens, from TV to laptop to tablet to smart phone. Each screen will have content tailored to that viewing platform.
It’s a very ambitious undertaking, being that everyone’s interaction with 2nd screens and TV is still a budding relationship, but maybe USA’s move is something that may soon be required by all networks to consider as TV becomes more connected.
Over Half of All Adults Use a 2nd Screen During TV Watching
7.18.2012—A story by Kit Eaton for Fast Company that shows a telling glimpse into the future of 2nd screen usage around television. The Pew Research Group conducted a report showing that 52 percent of all adult cell phone users incorporate mobile devices into TV watching. It’s a great article and a promising litmus test for what the future holds for TV and viewers.
Advertisers Mull Over Future of Video Ad Space on TV vs. Web
7.17.2012—While a ton of rhetoric circles around how the internet and 2nd screen devices will be the future of advertising, television still remains the most preferred method of reaching a large-scale audience, according to an article by Michelle Clancy for Rapid TV News.
As 2nd Screen Ad Competition Heats up, Advertisements Evolve
7.6.2012—As TV advertisers flock to the 2nd screen to gain viewers, the competition increase and new technology demands a more engaging type of ad. LostRemote reported today that, while SecondScreen networks has been the “go-to” company for the newest wave of 2nd-screen ads, a new player enters the 2nd-screen ad realm. Microsoft just premiered their “Polymorphic Ads” at this year’s Cannes film festival. The company’s GM of Advertising sat down with LostRemote to explain how Polymorphic Ads will impact multi-screen advertising.
Chrysler has already signed on to try the service out. In the coming months, we’ll see how Microsoft fares and whether or not SecondScreen can stave off further competition from entering a space it has so far dominated.
Tech and Adverts Rush To Occupy Same Space For TV Engagement
7.3.2012—As 2nd screen becomes lauded as next level for media content, it also becomes lauded as fertile ground for advertisers. Could this create friction between users and advertisers as 2nd screen gets more integration?
Speaking specifically about tv content, apps are being built with ad recognition or with the ability to negate ads altogether. It is a stream-line process to get the user connected to his or her desired content. For content-driven apps/services, it is all about keeping the user fully engaged with content, from a more efficient way to find said content to tweeting/whatever about it during or after viewing.
Meanwhile, ad companies are trying to gain fresh ground on new platforms in order to get more eyes on their ads. The 2nd screen space is seen as a multi-billion dollar business that is just at the early stages. This means that, while there is room for entry, competition is fierce. We already discussed how the 2nd screen is the wild-west of TV right now. It is only expected that the advertisers who made fortunes on the old model of television will be eager to jump in.
However, what advertisers have to compete with in the 2nd screen, besides each other, is the innovation of connecting users with content. The biggest successes in tech have come out of providing customizability. That is what we are doing, here in the 2nd screen space relating to TV. Users can find the content they care about, by a method they prefer, and stay engaged with that content by whatever means they choose. In that streamline, there is very little (if any) room for TV adverts to just be an accepted reality of TV viewership.
Will there be a happy medium? The fertile ground for adverts to occupy in this new realm of tech was watered and cultivated by the content curators/generators with which they may soon be at odds. On the other side of the coin, many companies looking to occupy the 2nd screen look to ad revenue as an integral part of the business model. It will be interesting how this friction will play out as 2nd screen usage grows for TV engagement.
6.28.2012—Sometimes, you just need to have fun with work.
The Next TV Tech Needs to be Done Right to Bring it to Next Level
6.25.2012—It seems that guns are drawn and the standoff begins to see who will be left standing in the showdown for dominance of the TV space.
(Excuse all the cowboy references as of late, it all started when the 2nd screen was called the wild west of TV)
One after the other, tech titans each announce their next products that will be handed down to the masses. This week it’s Google’s turn, with the search giant holding two keynote speeches in San Francisco’s Moscone Center to unveil what they have in store for consumers. One of the announcements being made is Google TV’s update, which is lauded to bring long-awaited features to the TV console.
The update is said to usher in an emphasis on connecting users to content first, and the source of that content later. How they plan to do this is unify the search query, combing television, DVR and Netflix results for the programs a user searches for.
As the Fox News article says of the update’s feature, “If you want to watch ‘The Walking Dead,’ do you really care if it is available live, on your DVR, or on Netflix? No. You don’t. You just want to find it and let the search engine figure out where.”
One thing that may be overlooked by many of these content searching solutions that everyone is proposing is this: the search may not go deep enough.
We at Boxfish are the first ones to agree that discovering TV is content driven, not source-driven. Likewise, being able to search shows and channels is a no-brainer. What you don’t here is anyone rushing to provide a search for TV content by subject, or keyword…except for us.
This is not to inflate our egos. The current state of searching for something on TV is simply unacceptable. Google understands this, thus they are updating how you search for content on Google TV. However, our collective idea of “search” has evolved to something so beyond what anyone has provided for TV content, that is has no choice, but to catch up to the times—mostly because of what Google did for searching on the web.
If you look at phones, computers, internet, hell, even books, our interaction with these mediums through tech has jumped further in the last 5 years than they have in the 30 years prior. TV is the tortoise in the race. It lags behind, but when it does catch up, if all of us in the game do our jobs right, it could far surpass what we have seen in any kind of tech up to now.
Competition Grows On the Dusty Plains of 2nd-Screen/TV Development
6.22.2012—The Wrap put out a great article about the wild-west nature of the fledgeling industry surrounding second-screen/TV interaction. According to the article, we have a battle royale of sorts, with networks rushing to app up, thus competing against start-ups and major developers vying for 2nd-screen users.
One unifying aspect to most of these apps is that each one concentrates on catching the user when he/she is watching TV and funneling him/her onto the internet. Seldom do you see anyone concentrating on trying to bring users from the internet to the TV. Boxfish is in the latter category, which is a unique quality. However, it’s naive to think that we are the only ones.
How this all will shape up remains to be seen. There are many playing the short game, hoping to make enough of a splash to get bought out or merged into a bigger service. Then there are those who are in it for the long haul, making moves that could solidify their place in the TV/2nd-screen realm.
Still, it is intriguing to think of us as rogue gunmen, traversing the dusty plains, gunsights searching for that elusive bounty, all else who are on the same hunt be damned! *cue music*
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