Harmonic Aftershock

Boxee Live TV: A Big Step Towards Cutting the Cord.

I was welcomed home from work this past Wednesday with a package containing the new Boxee Live TV dongle which I had pre-ordered late last year. 

I demoed the Boxee Box when it first came out in November of 2010. Now, the Boxee Box has just gotten a whole lot better with Live TV capabilities via a USB dongle and antenna that receives over-the-air HD transmissions from local broadcasters.

The setup is crazy simple. Stick one end of the dongle into the USB port of the Boxee Box and connect the Antenna to the other (coaxial) end of the dongle. After booting up the Boxee, an initial set-up scan of channels takes place.

After the initial setup which takes less than five minutes, the Boxee is now ready for live television. You’ll note my jaw literally dropped when I saw that the HD over-the-air picture quality was more crisp and clear than that of my HD cable picture.

Along with the dongle, Boxee also recently announced its Facebook Open Graph application that automatically shares what you’re watching into your Facebook ticker and timeline. Imagine my excitement to discover that the original 1983 He-Man cartoon was on  :-)

With this addition, I could see the Boxee Box being a one-stop shop for some (perhaps many) “cord cutters.” Am I that person? No, not yet – I am way too hooked on CNN, a heavy time-shifted TV watcher, and I can’t get enough of the “play now” feature on my Xfinity TV iPad app.

But one thing is certain. If and when the time comes where I have to cut the cost of my monthly television bill, Boxee is without a doubt the solution -- the only monthly cost to watch TV is the cost of an Internet connection. 

I can’t wait to see what Boxee has in store next…

Television’s Feedback Loop

There’s a lot of debate as to whether or not people today tune-in to TV spots. For over 70 years, the medium had no instant response mechanism we’ve all come to enjoy from the digital space. In the world of social TV, the game has changed – and TV, today, indeed has a measurable feedback loop.

At approximately 4pm (Eastern Time) yesterday, during the AFC championship game, Dr. Pepper ran its “Always One of a Kind” TV spot – ending with an #ImA hashtag:

While Dr. Pepper is certainly not the first brand to integrate Twitter into TV spots, their final art card gave quite a bit of prominence as a call-to-action to tweet. And at that very moment over 2000 people did just that, creating close to a million “social impressions.”

So we know that there’s tune in – and so much so that people are actually taking notice of the TV spot’s ending, many of whom go on to tweet. While a good portion of the Tweets are positive (people praising the brand for a great TV spot and wanting one of the t-shirts), the overall sentiment (as measured by Radian6) skewed negative (when excluding the majority of the tweets categorized as neutral).

Is this good or bad?
It all depends how it’s looked at. Now that TV has a feedback loop, brands are able to get instant feedback on their TV spots – and in this case, one might ask whether or not running a flash-mob like scene filled with “gleeful” singing and dancing during an intense football game would resonate. But suffice it to say there are TV shows where the praise for the hopeful message in Dr. Pepper’s TV spot would only be amplified.

Brands now have pretty easy access to television’s growing feedback loop – an instant unfiltered focus group. The question is what do they do with that data? What is the value of all of the social impressions being created? 

We’ll be asking these very questions during TVnext’s “insights” panel on February 27, hearing from companies that include: Nielsen, Bluefin Labs, Trendrr, SocialGuide, TVGuide.com, and NBC. It’ll prove to be an interesting and contentious debate. Hope you can join us at TVnext. 

If a picture says a thousand words…

…then a book index says 70,000.

I'm pretty psyched to report that Social TV went to press this past Friday. If you’ve pre-ordered a copy, you should be getting it in just about a month. For everyone else, it’ll be in stores on February 28 in the US and mid-March worldwide. 

I’m in the process of writing a bonus chapter (Chapter 11) that will be available for download only via a QR code that’s embedded in the printed book.

I’ve already shared the Preface to Social TV. As a further preview of the book’s contents, I thought I’d share its Index.

[DOWNLOAD INDEX]

I was struck by just how detailed the professional indexers were – so much so that I think it’ll give you quite a peek inside Social TV.

Thanks again for all of your support!

 

TVnext 2012 is Social TV's official book launch.

January of 2011 will forever be a memorable month because of the original TVnext summit. It ranks among my top 5 most awesome career experiences to-date and, most importantly, set the stage for writing my book, Social TV. 

I'm thrilled (with a healthy dose of dauntedness) to be doing it all over again in 2012 with an even bigger and better Hill Holliday TVnext summit which will take place on Monday, February 27 at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Arts.

The best part about this years event (in addition to over 25 speakers) is that we're able to open up tickets to the general public. Will you consider attending? Ticket info is below:

Event management for Hill Holliday's TVnext 2012 powered by Eventbrite

This will also be the official launch of Social TV which will be in stores the day after TVnext. (Everyone who attends will get two copies of the book -- one to keep and one to give away). I really hope to see you there!

5 Reasons to Get Social TV

With less than two months before Social TV hits shelves (both physical and virtual), Stacey and I are admidst the final stages of the book’s production before it goes to print two weeks from tomorrow.

While you’ve already heard about Social TV from our perspective, here are 5 additional opinions about the book that will appear on Social TV’s back cover:

“We are at the beginning of social TV's impact on the way audiences experience television and networks create, market and measure shows. If you are a TV executive, a content creator, or a brand marketer seeking to engage and understand your audience, Social TV is must read. Mike and Stacey share an essential roadmap to help you navigate the radically changing landscape of television as it blends with social media.”

— Chloe Sladden, Director of Content and Programming at Twitter

 

“At the intersection of television, social media, and mobile lies a rapidly growing opportunity for brands to engage with their target audience in powerful and innovative ways. Mike and Stacey could not be more timely and relevant with Social TV as a guide for CMOs and other marketing professionals making their way through a new era of TV to differentiate their brands and drive sales.”

— John Costello, Chief Global Marketing and Innovation Officer, Dunkin’ Brands

 

“This book captures a critical moment in time, when social TV exploded, changing the relationship between TV networks and their audiences forever. TV is no longer a one-way communication; it is a two-way experience for fans and celebrities to participate, share and grow the conversation around shows and brands as never before.” 

— Lisa Hsia, Executive Vice President, Bravo Digital Media

 

“In Social TV, the authors have taken on a task akin to documenting a hurricane while flying through it. And they have emerged with a book worth every page or ePage it takes up. This book not only documents TV's past and its volatile present, it presents the many possible paths the industry could take. Whether you're in the boardroom or the classroom, you won't get a more complete and more compelling view of TV's changing nature than this.”

— James McQuivey, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research

 

“The intersection between TV and social media is changing the way we experience entertainment and advertising. Mike Proulx and Stacey Shepatin provide an invaluable, in-the-trenches look at this transformation. Read this and you'll never look at your TV the same way again.”

— Todd Wasserman, Business Editor of Mashable 

Stacey and I want to thank Chloe, John, Lisa, James, and Todd for taking the time to preview the book and provide their endorsement. You can pre-order Social TV at the best rates now.

A Connected Holiday Gift Guide: Roku 2 or Apple TV?

Santa’s sleigh might just be filled with connected TV devices this holiday season. Over the course of the past week, three different people approached me with the same question: “I’m looking to buy either an Apple TV or Roku 2 for a gift, which should I get?”

In each case, my answer was a bit different based on the kind of content and existing technologies the gift recipient currently wants/has.

Apple TV vs. Roku 2

Apple TV’s AirPlay feature is perfect for those who are heavy iPhone/iPad/iTunes users. I personally love the ability to seamlessly finish listening to a song or watching a movie from my mobile device on to my home theater when I get home. I demoed this functionality a year ago. It’s also great for sharing photos or user generated videos from your device onto the TV screen instead of huddle around a small device – I recently did this when my family was over during Labor Day – the modern day “carousel” slide show.

The Roku Player streams 1080p video and has a lot more content channels. Both Apple TV and Roku support Netflix and Hulu Plus but Roku also has an HBO Go channel. This past July their latest product line (Roku 2) launched with a slick new design and motion sensor remote control supporting a series of casual games including the ever popular Angry Birds. Check out my Social TV (book) interview with Roku’s head of Marketing from July. 

But wait, there are others.

The Apple TV and Roku 2’s high-end model both retail for $99 which is why they’re often compared. But as you’re doing your holiday shopping this weekend, don’t forget about the Boxee Box which has a lot of the same content as Roku, the ability to stream locally stored media, and just announced an add on “dongle” that acts as a digital TV antenna/tuner.

The Boxee Box retails for $179.99 and like the Apple TV and Roku, is also available at Best Buy (among other places) – The USB antenna will set you back an additional $49 (and isn’t available until January) I interviewed Boxee’s VP of Marketing for Social TV this Summer as well as during Hill Holliday’s TVnext Summit last January. You can also check out the demo I did when I first got my Boxee Box back in November of 2010.

And, of course, I’d be remiss not to mention Xbox which is has expanded beyond a gaming console and into a connected TV offering Kinect controller-free Hulu Plus, Netflix and a growing number of content sources including Verizon FiOS TV and soon Xfinity on-demand. Last week I shared a demo of Xbox’s latest software upgrades.

Your cable box will soon act like a connected TV.
Last June, I posted a video of Comcast’s CEO showcasing the next generation of Xfinity TV. To me it walks, talks, and smells like a connected TV device. For me, they’re the dark horse out of the bunch that I think will tip the scale towards bring Web + TV convergence to the masses. However, GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers’s bet is on the newly revamped Google TV.

Whatever happens, the direction is clear and “television” is becoming more exciting than ever before. Happy holiday shopping!

 

Demo of Xbox Software Update

Earlier today, Microsoft released its much anticipate Xbox software update fraught with Kinect controls including a universal Bing voice-enabled search. I was eager to play around with it -- Here's a short demo of the Bing search integration.

Forrester's James McQuivey did a great post on PaidContent talking about the implications of this upgrade and how it brings us closer to a truly engaged TV experience.

Social TV (Book) - A Preview

Today, Stacey and I received page proofs from Wiley for our book Social TV. As I suspected, it was a pretty great feeling to see our words appear as they will in the actual book.

I wanted to share with you guys the preface to the book and give you a sneak peak of what's in store when the book launches on February 28th.

[Download Social_TV-Preface]

If you like what you see, would you consider pre-ordering the book? Currently you can get a 44% discount through CEOread.

Thanks for all of the support you guys have given throughout this project!

Beyond The Check-In: Foursquare Is A City Guide

There was something that Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder & CEO of Foursquare said at an AdClub event I attend in April of 2010. “We wanted to design a way to make cities, in general, easier to use.”

I liked that vision, but at the time I didn’t necessarily see it manifesting itself into the Foursquare app. For better or for worse, Foursquare was a bit typecast as more of a check-in/specials/loyalty sort-of-thing.

But then 9 months ago, Foursquare launched its explore tab, making it super easy for people to find specific kinds of places filtered by several dimensions of relevancy. As I’ve been traveling more a bit lately, this feature has become my best friend and companion.

When I got hungry yesterday, while in Paris, I clicked the explore --> Food button to reveal a bunch of places near my hotel.  I wanted something fast and not a sit-down kind-of-venue. I quickly found there was a “Cosi” (and wondered if it was connected to the U.S. chain).

The note that “this venue is popular on Foursquare” gave me assurance that it was a reputable spot. I also appreciated all of the tips that people left as it helped me to see some of the recommendations on the menu (and saw that it was, indeed, different from the U.S. chain).

Foursquare’s integration with Google Maps is a Godsend as with a mere click, I was able to plot my course to find Cosi through the streets of Paris.

And, upon arrival, checking-in was a breeze since I had the app already open.

I learned when I got there that this Cosi was, indeed, the inspiration used for the, now popular, Cosi franchise in the United States. There was something very warm, unique, vintage, and authentic about this place.

I used Foursquare similarly to find a good gym nearby and the tips in this case really made my decision for me – Which is yet another reason for brands (especially small businesses) to leverage Forusquare and their loyalists to, in effect, endorse the venue by providing helpful information to those yet to discover it – all thanks to Foursquare’s explore tab and its (well over) 10 million users.

 

Reminiscing: Sunday Night at the Movies

Before the days of VOD, Streaming Video (i.e. Netflix), FEPs, and even DVRs, there was simply appointment television. And Sunday nights was a time for family to gather around the TV and watch together.

I happened to stumble on the following NBC Sunday Night at the Movies bumper and, after hearing it, immediately brought me back to the late 1980s when it would run every Sunday night.

It’s incredible to me how a music (song, soundtrack, or jingle) can immediately transport one back in time. And this one did it to me, for sure.

...And here’s a bonus…NBC’s 1980s fall TV promo videos.

1982-1983 “Just Watch Us Now”

1985-1986 “Let’s All Be There”

1987-1988 “Come on Home”

Now THAT was television ;-)