TVloop Blog

Yahoo announced their Open Platform today and we’re very excited about being one of the first developers to participate.  TVLoop and FanSection applications are available on MyYahoo beginning today, and include the top 50 TV apps and all NBA and NFL apps.  Other popular TV and sports apps will be launched over the coming days and weeks.  You can check out all of the details on the Yahoo Platform and the launch on MyYahoo on the MyYahoo Blog.

The launch is extremely important to us here at Watercooler for a couple of reasons.  First, Yahoo has over 140 million US unique users, over 20 million for MyYahoo, so the potential there is obviously huge.  The ability to be a first mover on a platform with such a large audience and mass market appeal was extremely important.  And second, the MyYahoo launch marks the first time that we’ve developed applications for a platform other than those on the top five social networks.  This follows closely on the heels of the launch of our first destination website, TVLoop.com, and demonstrates our strategy to continue expanding beyond social networks to reach a broader audience.  As other platforms open up (i.e. AOL, Google, etc.), we’ll continue to explore other opportunities.

Below are just a few screenshots from the MyYahoo implementation:

According to the Neilsen ratings, CBS continues to lead all other networks in terms of average viewers dominate the other networks for the lead in the prized 18-49 demographic.  However, we’re seeing something very different in the TVLoop community.  While all networks are well represented, FOX came out on top with 20% of the users.  The FOX network, led by shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy, has content that lends itself nicely to online communities comprised of the demographics generally found on social networks.  That means that they have good cartoons that the Age 14-25 demographic loves to watch in short form over and over while sending quotes, images, and videos to their friends.   In short, they’re perfect for the TVLoop network.  That’s not to say that members don’t appreciate some good drama as ABC is a strong second at 16% led by Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and now with the move over from NBC, the comedy Scrubs.  The network breakdown is as follows:

The “Other” category which is the largest chunk of users is comprised of a variety of networks such as HBO, Showtime, BBC, SciFi Channel, VH1, MTV, etc.

As I wrote yesterday, we launched the TVLoop.com website and it has been a resounding success.  Not only did the launch go off without a hitch from a technical and operations perspective, but we’ve received some fantastic press coverage to help with our marketing and PR efforts.  Here’s just a taste of some of the coverage we’ve received so far:

Moving beyond social networks, Watercooler launches TVloop.com

TVLoop.com: Where TV Meets Social Networking

TVloop.com Launches: The Ultimate TV Shows Social Shopping Experience

Building on Hulu

Website of the Day: TVLoop.com

TVLoop.com Connects Passionate Fans

There have been others as well, and I’m happy to link to them here.  Just leave it as a comment below and I’ll add it ASAP.  Thanks again to all that have covered the news.

We’re very excited to announce the launch of the TVLoop.com website today.  I won’t quote the press release and press coverage verbatim, but TVLoop.com is the latest web property from Watercooler targeted at TV fans.  It basically takes all of the great features available in the TVLoop applications on Facebook and other social networks, and makes them available in a stand-alone website.  Perhaps the greatest thing about the new site is that unlike other app developers that have taken a siloed approach when creating their destination website, meaning that app users and website users are kept completely separate, the TVLoop community combines them into one big network.  So a Facebook user can create a quiz in the Addicted to Lost application, a MySpace user can take that quiz and comment on it, and a TVLoop.com user can send it to their friends.  So you have 16 million registered members interacting around their favorite TV shows and content across a variety of different websites and social networks.  And finally, we also created some great new widgets so fans can take their favorite TV shows with them.  The first launch included widgets for Quote of the Day and Upcoming Episodes, but others will be launching over the next few weeks.

So far today, we’ve received some great coverage from Eric Eldon at Venture Beat and Stan Schroeder at Mashable.  You can also check out the official press release for more details, or better yet, visit TVLoop.com and give the site a test drive for yourself.

AdWeek has an article today that talks about branded Facebook applications and how big brands from Nike to Coca Cola to Ford have had very little success with their respective apps.  We need to be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water here.  In his critique of the AdWeek story, Chas Edwards from Federated Media points to several successful brand campaigns with the Graffiti Facebook applications which have included the likes of BMW, Intel, and Acuvue, while here at Watercooler we’ve had success with brands such as Nike, Samsung, Target, and Disney with many more good things to come.  So why are the brands mentioned by AdWeek having trouble with their apps?  The answers were mentioned by a few industry folks quoted in the article, but can also be found in a post I wrote a few months ago.  In that piece, I discussed the 6 key factors that advertisers need to address in order to be successful in social media.  They are:

1. Be relevant
2. Be authentic
3. Be part of the product
4. Use the social graph
5. Don’t get in the way
6. Analyze the right metrics

The apps mentioned by AdWeek violated several if not all of these factors.  They made the apps all about the brand and only about the brand.  That will never work.  Instead, brands must engage with consumers in a way that the consumer finds meaningful in relevant.  In other words, brands need to go where the consumers are and inject themselves into those conversations rather than creating completely new conversations and expecting consumers to come to them.  That can work with some brands, but only those that transcend the traditional advertising model and look more like content.  Think movies, TV, music, etc.