Interactive TV News Round-Up (V): Red Bee Media, Civolution, FX UK, Revision3

Due to the large volume of news generated by the recent 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format. We anticipate that it will take us several more days to process all the news from the show: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us.

• UK-based media management company, Red Bee Media, has launched a portfolio of social media-enabled content-discovery solutions, called RedDiscover. The solution is powering social TV guides/EPG's for UK media company, Time Out, and Dutch publishing house, Veronica Publishing. "Recent research conducted by Red Bee Media revealed that an overwhelming 74% of UK consumers claim that they can't find anything to watch on live TV on a weekly basis," the company states in its press materials. "In response to this, Red Bee Media has developed RedDiscover, which provides broadcasters, platforms and content owners with a range of discovery solutions that help consumers to proactively find the content they want to watch both on live TV and on-demand, and guide them to new content and related services on every platform and every screen. RedDiscover combines Red Bee Media's established metadata build sourcing and distribution services with award-winning search, recommendation and personalization technologies, creative and user interface design and companion applications and 'second-screen' experiences to enhance the user journey...Time Out has appointed Red Bee Media to create and launch the UK's first ever, state-of-the-art online social TV guide, built using RedDiscover technologies. The Time Out TV guide has been developed to harness the growing use of social media by consumers to create a new and richer TV experience and will seamlessly integrate traditional TV listings with social networks, Facebook and Twitter, allowing users to engage with their friends and connections in real time. Users will be able to log in, 'like' programs and see what their friends 'like,' share, recommend and 'favorite' content and see what programs are trending on Twitter, what's being said about them and interact with the Twittersphere. Red Bee Media has also been selected by...Veronica Publishing BV to create and launch the first integrated social TV guide in the Netherlands using RedDiscover technologies. Veronica Publishing, which owns Veronica magazine, the leading TV listings magazine in the Netherlands, is rolling out the new social TV guide nationwide via tablets and smartphones, and will showcase functionality including: the ability to 'check in' via Facebook and let friends know what you are watching, 'like' programs and see what friends 'like'; Twitter integration to see what programs are trending in real time and interact with connections; and search, share, rate and recommend content across Facebook and Twitter. Veronica Publishing is owned by Dutch media company SBS Broadcasting B.V...RedDiscover has been designed to drive content consumption and revenue, increase brand loyalty and provide direct feedback for targeted advertising. It is organized around four pillars, which can be delivered as standalone modules or as part of an integrated solution. These components are: 1) Rich metadata: sourcing, build, aggregation and distribution of editorial information and images to deliver a richer and deeper viewing experience. 2) Search, recommendation and personalization: personal, social and contextual search and recommendation applications built for live TV and VOD. 3) EPG development and design: the design and build of intuitive interface and user experience for every screen, deeply integrated with social media. 4) Companion applications: 'second-screen' applications ranging from interactive games and related content links, to targeted ads and social interaction. The launch of RedDiscover is the latest in a string of strategic business developments and innovations. In August 2011 Red Bee Media acquired TV Genius, an award-winning software company that specializes in cloud-based content discovery across the Internet, TV and connected devices. In June 2011 the company launched RedPlayer, the first 'media-grade,' next-generation online video platform which allows broadcasters and content owners internationally to deliver and monetize high-quality video to multiple devices, including PC, iPhone, iPad, gaming consoles and connected TV in a secure and scalable manner. RedDiscover is also an integrated, core driver behind RedPlayer."
• In related news: Red Bee Media has teamed with automatic content recognition (ACR) specialist, Civolution, to develop a broadcast-synchronized companion app for FX UK. The app, which is based on Red Bee's new RedDiscover platform, will enhance the new season of the zombie-themed series, "The Walking Dead" (premieres February 17th). According to Red Bee, the app marks "the first use of digital audio watermarking technology" in a second-screen companion app in the UK. "The second-screen experience will provide audiences with a new, social and immersive way to engage with one of FX UK's top-rated TV series including: the ability to predict the number of zombie kills in each episode, watch as the action unfolds and share your results via Facebook or Twitter; select and watch previous zombie kills according to episode, character or weapon; view trailers of upcoming episodes; and see what's being said about 'The Walking Dead' on Twitter and interact with the Twittersphere," Red Bee states in its press materials. "The app will be available free of charge from 3 February and will be available on both iPhones and iPads. 'The Walking Dead' app utilizes cutting-edge digital audio watermarking technology, powered by Civolution, which allows audiences to accurately sync the second-screen experience to the television program, both live and on-demand. Digital audio watermarking embeds indelible and imperceptible metadata about each show, such as timecode, which is then extracted and interpreted onto the second-screen device. This is the first time that digital audio watermarking technology has been deployed commercially as part of a TV companion app in the UK."
• Online Programmer, Revision3, says that it saw substantial growth in 2011. "The company grew its revenue 53% year-over-year," it states in its press materials. "Total views across the network increased nearly 359% with close to 800 million worldwide views for the year. The company also increased its YouTube subscriber base by more than 4x, ending the year with nearly 4.5 million YouTube subscribers across all shows. Additionally, Revision3 started off 2012 with a bang, by delivering more than 9 million views in one week from its groundbreaking coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). At CES, Revision3 produced nearly 230 individual pieces of video across nine different shows and channels. The company also continued its strong tradition of technology leadership by being the first to deploy a 100% HTML5 player across its entire platform, and by extending its app strategy to even more phones, tablets and smart TV's. Revision3's Android app provides a particularly sterling example of the company's vision, as it is among the first single video apps that work seamlessly across Android phones, tablets and Google TV. Revision3 continues to successfully bring major brands into the Web-original video market, through a combination of in-show sponsorships and high CPM pre-rolls. To that end, the company's average deal size increased by more than 80% year-over-year. Major advertisers currently include Ford, Doritos, EA, Verizon, Sony, T-Mobile, Citrix, Gamestop, HTC, About.Me and Samsung...2011 Milestones include: 1) Increased revenue 53% year over year and viewership 359%. Average yield per view is above $30. 2) Brought on new board members Roy Bahat, CEO of IGN, and Anthony Soohoo, former SVP and GM, Entertainment at CBS Interactive. 3) Rolled out an innovative, proprietary, cloud-based end-to-end publishing, encoding and distribution platform. 4) Launched a strong line-up of more than a dozen new shows and hosts, including popular YouTube shows: 'Epic Meal Time,' 'The Philip DeFranco Show,' 'Film State,' 'Soldier Knows Best,' 'TechnoBuffalo,' 'Ty's iHelp' and 'Nixie Pixel.' 5) Created new in-house shows including 'Ask Jay,' 'Toasted Donut' and 'New Challenger.' 6) Launched a successful partnership to promote and distribute Epic Meal Time-branded bacon products. 7) Increased average deal size 80%, year-over-year. 8) Launched a new iOS application and an Android application that runs on everything from smartphones to tablets to Google TV 2.0. 9) Launched a complete Revision3 application for the Kindle Fire platform. 10) Launched new applications on Roku, Windows Media Center, Google TV 2.0, Yahoo! Connected TV's, and a half dozen more smart TV's including Toshiba, LG and Sony. 11) Saw a 75% increase in 'lean-back' and mobile viewing in 2011. 12) In Q4, Revision3 launched an industry first: a full-featured HTML5 video player to extend the Revision3 experience to more devices and browsers than before, including Flashless devices such as iPhone and iPad. 13) Began an R&D program into analyzing viewer behavior and trends in the IPTV market space, with results publicly shared at http://revision3.com/iptv-research. 14) Revision3 shows are currently available on devices including Roku, Boxee, Zune, TiVo, Yahoo!'s Connected TV Platform, Google TV, plus apps on Android, Blackberry and iPhone, along with tablets and other handheld platforms. 15) Content available online at Revision3, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, Yahoo!, iTunes, Rovi, DivX, Dish online, Clearleap, DailyMotion, Clicker, Metacafe, and Twonky, as well as 'in the air' on Virgin America's award winning in-flight Entertainment platform."