The Lost Remote NYC show is underway and the day continues to reveal how mature the social TV world has become. Discovery Communications Senior Vice President of Digital Media Guhan Selvaretnam just revealed how essential social is to Discovery’s programming across their different networks. Here are the details presented exclusively at today’s event.
Discovery is anticipating more than 100 hours of live on-air social integrations across their networks:
Selvaretnam discussed how depending on the program, they feature an amazing 30-100 tweets in an hour of programming, which is specifically tailored to the show and audience. He also discussed how important social is for their linear programs by explaining that shows featuring live, on-air social integrations show a 2-9x lift in the volume of social mentions (vs. the same series without).
How Wallenda Live will be one of the biggest social TV programs of the summer:
Selvaretnam discussed the exciting event where tightrope walker Nik Wallenda will walk across the Grand Canyon. The social integrations could put this even on par with the famous Red Bull stunt from October. Here are the details.
- On Sunday, June 23, tightrope walker Nik Wallenda will cross the Grand Canyon on a wire, untethered, live on Discovery Channel in Wallenda Live (wt).
- The countdown to the walk will begin in mid-May with a socially infused site that will allow fans to join Team Wallenda, get to know him and his famed family and even experience the view from the wire through a 360-degree interactive.
- Building on our successful “Backstage” experiences for other live events, including Chopper Live and Gold Rush Live, Wallenda Live will have a digital companion experience that will include multiple camera angles throughout the night in addition to a hosted experience during commercial breaks breaking down what fans are seeing and what their saying online in real-time.