The social TV company Yap.tv is getting into the custom app business. Today it announced it will launch a custom second-screen app (iPad & iPhone) for USA Networks in November.
The custom app is designed to blend the best of both worlds: the social TV initiatives already underway at USA — which include its online second-screen experience “Character Chatter” — and a dynamic program guide and real-time social chat via Yap.tv. “[It] gives our fans an innovative platform for personalizing their interaction and engaging with content in ways that allow us to continually evolve our social TV experience, always staying a step ahead for our fans,” said Jesse Redniss, VP of Digital for USA Network.
Staying a step ahead in this rapidly-evolving space is always a challenge — especially on the mobile front — and Yap.TV is positioning itself as an out-of-the-box, white-label solution. “The yap.TV platform is currently being offered to select network partners, who will benefit from fast time-to-market and an extensive roadmap of innovations to come,” the press release explains.
There are other social TV startups with white-label solutions who also elbowing for attention: Loyalize, for example, just announced a partnership with Spike TV last month. And there’s Umami, which landed a fresh round of funding in August.