AOL-Huffington Post announced the relaunch of its TV-focused news and review website today, under the brand AOLTV.com. The site partners with i.TV, maker of iPhone apps that, among other things, carry listings for TV shows, Netflix, iTunes, and Hulu.
The relaunch marks AOL’s push into the increasingly crowded second screen TV market. Company executives say that AOL is looking to complement existing TV programming (and advertising) by producing companion content, including reviews and news features, that can be consumed on mobile devices—possibly even simultaneous with their TV time. “I think that this is a three-screen world—computer, TV, and mobile,” says Kerry Trainor, svp of AOL Entertainment. “We believe that people want to interact with television across those screens. ”
For its part, i.TV, which is one of the country's leading TV-listing iPhone app makers, is partnering with a number of similar content creators—not just online, but in the broadcast and cable television worlds and among advertisers, to multiply the ways viewers engage with TV programming. “TV content is no longer being consumed at the desktop,” says Brad Pelo, i.TV’s CEO. “People used to go to the fridge to get a beer [during commercial breaks], but now they’re picking up their smart phone and saying ‘what are my friends saying about this show?’ That’s our target audience.”
