NEW YORK — Social TV services Viggle and GetGlue are working on plans to expand services across platforms in the new year, says Kyle Brink, VP Product at Viggle during an interview with Beet.TV at the TV of Tomorrow show in New York this month. We caught up with him for an update on the Viggle service as well as the latest on the pending merger of the two companies.
Viggle's service operates as a TV loyalty program, while GetGlue's focus has been in social TV apps. "We came out on mobile first…GetGlue comes from the Web and tablet, and eventually we'll have two great products across a variety of platforms. Between Get Glue and Viggle we have the largest audience in the space," Brink tells Beet.TV.
With that reach, Viggle will likely be able to attract more advertisers. Brands can "own" an entire show on Viggle, as Bing did with the Grammys, Brink says. Other options include enhanced ads surrounding shows.
From an editorial point of view, the social TV service also works with networks and programmers. In some cases, the integration with a show is scripted throughout the episode. With Animal Planet's Whale Wars, for instance, the producers used Viggle and mapped out the social integration on a minute-by-minute basis, Brink says. In other cases, the Viggle team will layer in the trivia questions and social TV features for a show for its users to interact with.
Daisy Whitney