What Did You Watch on TV Last Night?

UK TV broadcaster Channel 4 is coming together with US App developer GetGlue to offer viewers a chance to share viewing habits with friends through the internet. Viewers will be able to ‘Check-in’ when they are watching certain programmes on selected channels, thus sharing in real time what they are watching, listening and reading. In a development that is sure to get marketers chomping at the bit, it does leave one wondering whether this is another indication that the UK population is ever increasingly living their lives solely through the internet.

Channel 4 is trialling the GetGlue app for one month, viewers watching the E4 program Beaver Falls are able to trial the system ahead of a potential roll out. Viewers will be able to check-in via Smartphone,Connected-TV or the web, and for each episode they check into they will be rewarded with exclusive merchandise. Combining this new functionality with dedicated Facebook and Twitter pages it is delivering content across multiple channels, encouraging viewers to spread details virally and engage on multiple levels, thereby taking the concept of the Television programme beyond the living room.  With the possibility of accessing real time demographic figures of viewers as well as real time attractor feedback, advertisers will naturally be drawn to this new system as well as content owners looking to monetise across multiple channels. Delivering TV content through Connected-TV as well as on mobile and via social media will ensure that viewers are captured and kept, providing Channel 4 and other media companies who follow suit a refreshed route to market and thus a long term sustainable approach to monetisation.

This development could pave the way for an increasingly blurred line between consumer led social media and broadcaster led content media, which encourages more free flowing conversations between brand and consumer. As a result media delivery in the 21st century if anything is actually increasing our ability to talk to one another rather than reducing it, a move which can only be a good thing when assessed by marketing leaders in the industry, and especially when considering the increased options for monetisation in an increasingly competitive arena.

Delivering secure, cross channel and centralised payment gateways, MPP Global offer content owners the ability to monetise multichannel digital content.