Smart Screen Exclusive

By Lyndsey Schaefer

Are you ever watching something miraculous, hilarious, groan-inducing or unforgettable on live TV that you’d like to capture and share with your social network? Gone are the days of holding up a mobile device to record a shaky, low-resolution picture. With ConnecTV’s new free social video platform for TV fans, users can now watch, clip favorite moments in six-second increments, comment and share with friends and other fans – all with one touch.

Ian Aaron, Co-Founder and CEO of ConnecTV, has been at the forefront of the second screen revolution over the past three years – and he says that the amount of user engagement has been amazing.

“We’ve been trying to look at the data we’ve been getting from our users on what’s driving engagement. You see big engagement on big tune-in events, but not for normal TV,” Aaron says. “At the end of the day, people want to engage with TV, not necessarily take their eyes away from it. That caused us to go in this direction to come up with this ground-breaking app.”

Users log into the app using Facebook, Twitter or email, and controlling it with their thumb, can discover new shows from clips that other fans post, without requiring DVR rewind, or taking you away from watching live TV. ConnecTV’s SocialTV Timeline and related clips are also accompanied by companion content, including show information, schedules, and play-by-play sports statistics. The free app launched today for iOS devices in the App Store in the U.S.; international expansion, in addition to enhanced features are coming soon.

With 420 channels of live TV, the app has something for everyone. Users can view popular clips, highlights from live sporting events, talk shows, and more. ConnecTV encourages users to customize clips – with enhanced tools to add text and comments for fans to personalize the video before posting to social networks.

On the broadcaster side, ConnecTV’s app is equipped with real-time ad syncing, in addition to network or other branded promotions coupled with content. Users see all of the information of the show they’re watching, inclusive of rich metadata, creating added value for networks, Aaron says.  ConnecTV next plans to add integration of multi-channel video providers.

“When you look at second screen, the reality is, when people are watching TV, they don’t want to be bombarded by other stuff. If there’s something amazing, they want to share it,” Aaron explains. “It’s currently being done in a text environment, but this allows for the same in a video environment. It’s about getting people back to live TV, making it fun and engaging, and creating marketing tune-in value for the networks.”

For more information and to get the ConnecTV social TV app, click here or visit http://connectv.com.