There’s often a missing piece from second screen apps – good content. When an exciting social TV app launches it’s often easy to see the lack of conversation happening or conversations from random streams of tweets that are pulled into the app’s ecosystem. As the second screen space heats up more than ever before it’s even more important to provide a reason for users to stay hooked in, beyond just seeing lots of people commenting on how much they like or dislike a TV show they’re watching. In time for the Emmys, TVGuide.com has launched a partnership with WitStream, a social comedy platform, to provide extra compelling content for their red carpet coverage on their website only (for the time being).
According to the announcement Watch with WitStream will provide a “curated feed of a select group of comedians’ funny commentary on TV’s hottest events will be added to TVGuide.com’s popular Red Carpet section.” This injection of comedy is a model that other second screen companies should consider when trying to get users to use their tool while watching TV. “WitStream and TVGuide.com are partnering for the Emmys and future live events to make sure there’s never a dull moment for viewers – no matter how sober the nominees are, how badly the host is bombing, or how many agents are thanked,” said Mickey O’Connor, editor-in-chief of TV Guide Digital, in the announcement. WitStream also recently won the best app at Comedy Central’s 2012 Comedy Awards.
In March, we reported on iBubblr a new startup that’s working primarily on the curated conversations aspect. Many second screen apps give badges, stars or “super fan” credentials for engaging a lot, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have interesting things to say. Entertainment Weekly launched viEWer last fall to bring their editorial juice into real-time TV watching and second screen sports apps have launched with major players backing them. Who do you wish you can watch your favorite shows with besides the actors that are in them? Comedians? Journalists? Both? Let us know in the comments.