No property covers award shows better than E! Now the celebrity driven mega-brand is taking social TV for their red carpet events to a whole new level. For todays Golden Globes, the network has launched a brand new mobile app.
The new Live from the Red Carpet section on eonline.com and the mobile app will feature livestreaming capabilities that will provide viewers with a unique live second screen experience. When the TV broadcast goes to commercial, E!’s talent will be featured on the livestream. The app will also feature an updated Twitter feed function that will allow fans to interact about each event. For this year’s Golden Globes, E! has also partnered with Facebook on Heat Gauge, an app that will actively track and display viewer sentiment around the country.
With Eonline reaching a new record high of 12.2 MM average monthly unique viewers, and followers across social platforms growing by more than half from the prior year, we asked John Najarian, E!’s EVP and General Manager of Digital Media & Business Development about their success and how it will use social media during the Golden Globes.
Lost Remote: Why did E! decide to launch these apps?
John Najarian: We’ve updated our Live from the Red Carpet tablet, iPhone and Android app with an improved layout, simpler navigation, and better social integration. Knowing how engaged our viewers are it was important to make this app experience the perfect second screen complement to our networks linear broadcast. For example, you can watch celebrities walk the carpet on air, then spend more time in the apps checking out their outfits on the 360 Glam Cam and sharing with your friends. We also know our fans love to consume news, photos and videos before and after the event. This app makes it much easier and more immersive for someone on an iPad or smartphone.
Our E! Latino app was a great first step for us in entering the Hispanic market. We know Hispanics are tech-savvy and are severely underserved in the mobile entertainment and pop culture space. We have an extensive array of original Spanish language content and are excited to make E! Latino a cross-platform brand. So watch for more from us.
LR: How will it use social and take the red carpet shows E! has mastered to the next level?
Najarian: Offering our viewers a participatory experience around the red carpet has always been a strength of E! We are pioneers in aggregating the conversation around red carpet – year after year, #Eredcarpet is a trending topic worldwide showcasing our leadership in curating the red carpet chatter online.
This year we are introducing even more social experiences. The Heat Gauge, is our unique, proprietary tool to analyze and show what celebs are being most mentioned on Twitter and is the leading data visualization of its kind offered around red carpet season.
Every show has a few of those key moments that everybody ends up talking about – whether it’s Angelina’s leg or a funny acceptance speech. This year, E! In partnership with Facebook will be tracking those key moments in real time and using Facebook TalkMeter in E!’s live post show immediately following the Golden Globes.
We will also once again live tweet the red carpet arrivals and the show, and our live events team on site will be using Instagram to take our followers “behind the scenes” with unique, candid shots of celebrities on the red carpet that cannot be found anywhere else.