SUNNYVALE, CA — Yahoo is wedding social TV and interactive TV with its companion TV app IntoNow says Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Management, IntoNow, in this interview with Beet.TV at the company's headquarters.
Yahoo acquired IntoNow in April 2011 and is weaving Yahoo content into the Shazam-like app that recognizes audio cues from TV shows to identify which program a user is watching. "You can then interact with other people watching the show or you can stream relevant or related content," Johnson explained.
The app is designed to offer a shared viewing experience, as well as interaction with a show via polls, trivia, quizzes and other features. Yahoo also taps into related content across its sports, entertainment, news and other portals. As of late last year, the app had been downloaded more than 1.6 million times.
Johnson said he's focused on growing the usage and audience for the app, but also wants to bring more advertisers on board. Already, Pepsi has paired up with IntoNow to let users snag free Pepsi's at certain stores with the app.
The key competitive advantage for the app is that it connects advertisers to audiences in real time, Johnson said.
Daisy Whitney
