NAB: Never.no debuts social media prompter for TV talent

By Cory Bergman 

Producing live TV is tricky enough, but add real-time social media to the mix, and it can be downright difficult. The social TV startup Never.no has rolled out a new product here at NAB that aims to make it easier for on-air talent to react to social media without waiting for a script. Called “Prompter,” it runs on an iPad app.

“It’s a second version of a companion app, but specifically for presenters,” said Never.no’s Scott Davies, who showed us how it works. Using Never.no’s current products, producers can curate social media in real-time, picking the tweets and Facebook updates they want to appear on air. At the same time, they can choose which of those social updates to push to the Prompter iPad app — and they appear instantly in easy-to-read type. If the talent begins to read a tweet, producers can immediately punch up the social update on the screen, making the conversation more spontaneous and less scripted.

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In a separate version of Prompter, the talent can push social updates to air directly from the iPad. But as you might imagine, most producers wouldn’t want to activate that feature.

Prompter also works with real-time polls, so talent can track how the results are trending without having to wait for a script with the final results. Again, that’s tied to on-air graphics, as well.

“If presenters are the heart of live TV, social media is the pulse, and it is incredibly important for broadcasters to be in touch with their audience,” said Never.no Director of Marketing, James A. Neufeld. “Prompter helps facilities meet that critical need by putting the viewers directly in touch with local hosts and national presenters alike.”

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