Twelevision
How people watch television has changed enormously over the past few years. We can choose from hundreds of programs, across hundreds of channels. We can view on our phones, our tablets, computers, and on the big, connected TVs. We can record these shows without tapes or CDs, and watch without ads, in our own time.
So what hope does live TV have? At Twelevision, we believe plenty. We see live TV going through a massive revolution. What was quite a lonely experience in the past, watching television is now a global, real-time conversation. One of the platforms that has made live, event based TV thrive is Twitter. We saw 1000’s of tweets a second for the #royalwedding, and we see the Australian juggernaut #masterchef trending globally most nights of the week.
What are people using to tweet? Their connected second screen. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for the statistics and myself. When I sit down on the couch, I have at least 2 devices connected to the web within arm’s reach. My iPhone, the iPad, and most often my Mac Book open. This is the same as 78% of American TV watchers. The fact that smart phones outsold PC’s last year, and trajectory of tablet sales are growing expedientially, we see this multi screen engagement one screaming out for opportunity.
This trend led us to develop Twelevision. The love child of Live TV and Twitter.
It’s an application that you have open while you are watching your favourite TV show during the live broadcast. Simply select the region of Australia you are in, we then display all free to air channels, and their programs that are on, there and then. No hashtag searches to add everytime you watch something new, just browse like it’s a social tv guide.
To launch, we have created an app for iPhone & iPad. The strategy from the beginning is ‘Nail it, then scale it’. We have a list of killer features we plan on releasing in coming months, along with rolling it out across multi platforms, including Android and Desktop version.
We have made an algorithm that generates the show’s hashtag automatically, which is proving to be close to perfect. To hedge our bets we have given users the opportunity the add, edit and remove their own hashtags, as we know how hashtags can be made and trend up and down in a moment’s notice.
We have launched our exclusive set of Response Stickers, to save you having to type out how you feel when there is clearly pretty exciting TV, and even more exciting tweets going on.
The more you TV you watch, and the more Response Stickers you send, the more badges you earn. We have a set of over 20 badges, you can try to earn, but I bet you wont. 
So what is in store for the future of this app? Firstly, making it available for Android and browsers.
Then, we see a massive area for growth in contextual advertising. Now, networks and brands to serve up their ads and further content in context of what their viewers are watching at that time. For example, when you are watching Rage on Saturday morning, not only will you see tweets from people watching the exact same thing, at the exact same time, Twelevision will serve a link to buy that track on iTunes now. When you are watching Top Gear, you will get a banner showing you more videos about the car and even a link to test drive it at your local dealer.
We believe this is future of how ads need to behave. They need to communicate brand’s messages in context to what time it is, where the people are, and what they are doing.
The plan for Twelevision is just in it’s infancy, so stay tuned for us releasing a long list of ideas the team is working on in coming months.
We welcome all feedback, good and bad, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at info@twelevision.com.au.
I would not be to thank a few very talented people that made this happen. Follow them all.
@EaonP Strategist
@WalleyEUK Exec Producer
@BlairBurke Chief designer
@jake_turnbull Designer
@pixelette Designer
@dalrimple Creative Technologist
Anthony J Smith Developer
@superhighfives Developer
@robertfcoleman Writer
@warmcola Writer
@inlightmedia Development Team