Smart Screen

Vast Media Smart Screen Round-Up: A Reddit TV Premiere, the Nile in VR

Here’s a run-down of recent second screen-related entertainment items, via Berlin-based research and consulting company Vast Media.

• On Feb. 15, TBS premiered the first episode of its animated comedy “Final Space” on Reddit, marking the first time the social media site hosted a TV show premiere. The episode premiered a full 11 days ahead of its debut on TBS and the stream was available via Reddit’s front page.

Reddit followed the premiere with a Q&A with the show’s creator Olan Rogers, and Reddit promoted the episode ahead of the debut. Reddit made the episode available via its desktop site, however the stream was not made available to mobile users.

• To promote the Feb. 25 season three premiere of “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” Starz debuted a new Facebook camera effect, which transforms users into the show’s main character. Using the effect puts users into a woodland background, and dresses them in the character Ash’s blue shirt and brown straps, and when users open their mouths, the show’s iconic chainsaw appears, complete with blood spatters.

• On Feb. 20, the BBC launched a new, immersive VR experience, “Damming the Nile VR,” a two-part documentary that puts users on the iconic river and explores the political history behind the Nile. Available on the BBC VR app through the Oculus Gear VR store — as well as BBC.co.uk and YouTube — the experience is presented by BBC Africa reporter Alastair Leithead, and offers a perspective of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and its political implications for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.

• For the Winter Olympics, Discovery’s Eurosport offered up a dedicated Winter Olympics VR app, offering more than 50 hours of live virtual reality programming, along with on-demand replays, highlights and more. Costing around $1 for iOS and Android users, the app was also made available for the Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream, and the Windows Mixed Reality platforms.