Stevie, a Tel Aviv-based startup has a mission to change the way we consume social on TV. The company, which “turns your Facebook and Twitter into a beautiful television experience,” launched at TechCrunch Disrupt is announcing a big partnership today to bring their service to more devices. We spoke with CEO and Founder Yael Givon.
Today, they’re announcing the “launch of its election channel, putting a fresh spin on all the latest news coming off the campaign trail.” Stevie, which is like a Flipboard for TV will now bring all your social content about the election into the perfect TV experience. They’ve also launched a dedicated election iPad app to compliment the experience. Even further, to prove their platform is taking off, they’re “announcing a media partnership with Microsoft to bring Stevie to the Xbox platform,” which will help the reach millions of potential users.
Lost Remote: What’s Stevie, how does it fit into the social TV space?
Yael Givon: Stevie is a new take on social TV. It’s not a companion to traditional TV broadcast, but a personal TV experience made of your own newsfeeds. It takes all of your social feeds and turns them into shows that you can sit back, watch, and enjoy just like a real TV show. It blends what we all love about the TV experience, with the instantaneous and highly personalized nature of the social web.
LR: What are you about to announce? Why is it important for social TV?
Givon: We are announcing our new Elections channel that focuses on the discussion taking place right now about the upcoming US elections. You’ll see all the comments and tweets from your friends, as well as the most relevant videos that talk about the campaign trail. It’s personalized through content.from your friends, and generally lets you follow the election campaign as reflected in the most exciting arena these days, the social networks.
We are also announcing an exciting media partnership to bring Stevie to the Xbox platform. We are absolutely thrilled by this development since the Xbox is already one of the most popular connected devices and media players on the market. It’s a mature platform with millions of users and connected to millions of TV screens. With Stevie, Xbox users will be able to enjoy their social feeds as never before. They will literally be able to watch the social web in their very own, personalized TV broadcast.”
LR: How is Stevie changing the way we use social on TV?
Givon: Stevie fundamentally changes social TV because it really makes it feel like the TV experience we know and love, but incredibly enriched by the highly relevant and deeply personal content from our social feeds. TV is a passive experience; you sit back and watch the programming. However, social content is far more engaging than anything traditional TV can offer because it comes from the people we know, love and trust.
In the future, Stevie will incorporate personalized premium content that will be served to viewers according to the same principles as their social content.