Turner Broadcasting’s twelve week Media Camp came to an end recently with a demo day in San Francisco. Each of the six companies that were accepted to this program had social components that were part of their technology. To celebrate the end of camp they showcased how they’re working with CNN, TNT and more. We interviewed David Austin, Sr Director of Emerging Technology for Turner Broadcasting about the big demo day.
Austin confirmed that Media Camp will happen again, a very good sign for social TV startups looking to both receive some investment and get to know a major TV company better. Chute (“on a mission to help build and power the best media apps), Matcha (“the best place to find TV Shows across digital video services such as Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, Amazon and more, in one place), Socialize (“wraps social actions around any type of content in any app”), SocialSamba (“enables fans to ‘friend’ the characters they love from TV”), Showbucks (“social video + social games”), and Switchcam (“helps you discover, watch and share videos from events like concerts, political events, conferences and more”) are the first companies to graduate from Media Camp. You can watch there demos here followed by our interview with Austin.
Lost Remote: What social TV innovations came from Media Camp?
David Austin: All six of the Media Camp startup companies have a social aspect as part of their technologies. The fact that this occurred shows to us that social is a key part of new solutions appearing in the media technology space.
LR: Will the program run again next year?
Austin: Absolutely. We haven’t announced when we are accepting applications, but expect to make an announcement in the next month. We are also investigating other geographical locations in addition to San Francisco. In the meantime, interested entrepreneurs can sign up for our mailing list at www.mediacamp.com for the latest developments.
LR: What were the highlights from the demo?
Austin: All six companies showed off a combination of their product developments and the learnings from their experience at the 12 week Media Camp Academy. Examples included: Chute’s platform being utilized by CNN for both the Republican and Democrat National Conventions, Socialize’s social platform integrated into a prototype of an updated CNN Money iPad application and SocialSamba’s platform being utilized in an upcoming Falling Skies on TNT social web experience.