Zeebox today announced that it is launching its new services as Beamly. The rebranding is meant to signify the evolution of the company from a social TV companion and second screen app to a full-service content network; one that will allow fans to engage with their favorite shows throughout the week.
“A lot has happened in the evolution of social TV since we launched two years ago,” Jason Forbes, EVP and GM of Zeebox U.S., told Lost Remote. “We’ve seen our audience skew younger, with more than 60 percent of our audience now female and under 35. That demographic is a lot more social and wants more than a second screen app and TV guide, which is what we initially launched. They want a 24/7 social and content network for TV and that’s exactly what we’ve evolved to become.”
Beamly’s 24/7 approach can be broken down into five buckets: follow, find, chat, discover, and interact. TV fans will be able to follow shows and TV personalities, find and connect with others fans around shows, chat in Beamly’s TV Rooms, discover new shows, and interact with custom games, voting, and synched experiences.
TV Rooms is perhaps the most interesting feature of the new experience, and Beamly has been able to attract over 100 TV and pop culture influencers to host their own live TV Rooms and profiles within the app. YouTube stars such as Tyler Oakley and Kalel Cullen will host their own TV Rooms, which will allow them to build upon their already rabid fan-bases and to connect with them in a different environment.
Forbes told Lost Remote about the strategy behind TV Rooms:
What we’re building with Beamly is a world of TV communities, and engagement is a critical part in growing that community. For example, we’ve found a user following a TV show doubles visits per week. But more importantly, we’ve seen that following other users and celebrities leads to a nine-fold increase in usage and 500 minutes total per user per week. This multiplier, with users returning three to five times throughout the day talks to the importance of giving users even more reasons to follow. We’re supercharging these communities by introducing more than 100 Influencers like Tyler Oakley, Kalel Cullen and Sawyer Hartman. Tyler alone brings over four million followers who’ll he’ll be encouraging to come join him on Beamly to watch and chat about the TV shows he’s most passionate about while posting and adding videos that give his fans and existing users even more reasons to follow. You’re going to see lots of experimentation over the coming weeks. Some Influencers will prove to be far more effective than others but from what we’ve seen so far, following shows, stars and other fans is a major sweet spot not catered for effectively elsewhere.
