Smart Screen Exclusive

By Lyndsey Schaefer

Kelly Moulton, VP, North America for never.no, has seen the transition from interactive television to the freshly minted social TV. Now, never.no is taking what it has learned from the broadcast world to take social TV to the next level.

“never.no is a social TV production platform – our main customer is the actual showrunner or producer of the show,” Moulton says. “We understand how to manage a second screen experience through graphics, automation and ad insertion. Our software can actually listen to and sync with anything going on in the broadcast.”

never.no boasts a diverse range of partnerships with Al-Jazeera, BBC, ESPN, QVC, Turner Sports (launching “NBA TV Fan Night” tonight) and Univision, which cover 45 networks globally.

“The Social TV landscape is changing so rapidly we needed a partner that could not only scale with us but also have the flexibility to experiment on the fly. Technical capabilities and experience ‘in the truck’ get you in the door, but the strategic guidance, creative thinking, and true business partnership is what sets never.no apart,” says David Beck, Univision’s Head of Social Media.

One example of never.no’s work in social TV is “Video Wars,” a dynamic real-time music channel with no traditional playlist. What’s going to play next is based on user input.

In addition to its work in social TV, participatory TV, viewer interaction and companion apps, never.no is expanding its portfolio to include social TV advertising. Never.no worked with Intel in December on advertisements that utilized Shazam’s technology and never.no’s Interactivity Suite. Viewers were prompted to use Shazam on their second screen devices to recognize the audio in a specially adapted version of Intel’s ‘London Train’ advertisement. They were then directed to a page within the app where they could send personalized Christmas messages to friends and family along with a photo from Facebook.

“The state of sales today is very fragmented; Digital is the red-headed stepchild.” Moulton says. “We want to work on coming up with two or three formats that can be expanded into social TV advertising. We want to own that category – and to shout from the mountain tops by the end of the year that we did these formats with huge success. It’s the perfect next step for us since we’ve been focusing on shows and content for so long.”

With its range of product solutions and platforms, never.no is a natural fit for the 2^nd Screen Society.

“I heard of the 2^nd Screen Society through a friend, and have been exploring ways to get integrated in the second screen world,” Moulton says. “never.no is just opening up an office in L.A. and we wanted to get more involved in that world. It’s way too early of a market to be paranoid or competitive, it’s important to be open about what’s working, what’s not.”

Come learn more about never.no at NAB in Booth SL8827. For more details, go to http://never.no/.