Fox Synchronized TV Content to Be Available Through More Apps
The fledgling business of making tablet and smartphone apps that are synchronized to TV programming got a boost Tuesday. Fox said it will syndicate its synchronized “companion” TV content through San Francisco-based Watchwith’s platform to app makers such as Shazam, Dijit Media, Viggle and ConnecTV.
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The deal will soon let users access Fox-produced content within those apps that is synchronized to Fox TV programming they're watching. The system is also set up to let Fox manage and syndicate content to connected TV sets and service providers, it said. Fox released its own app earlier this year called Fox Now. That app offers viewers a similar synchronized experience to the ones that will be enabled through the syndication deal, said Hardie Tankersley, vice president of platforms and innovation for Fox.
The deal announced Tuesday acknowledges that not all viewers will want to use Fox’s own app, Tankersley said. “We believe that at least for the time being there will be a lot of different apps and different devices people use with television,” he said. “We're not sure which app and which style of interaction is going to take hold. We're kind of hedging so that whichever one of these becomes successful we're there to participate."
The deal is a recognition that app makers are amassing larger audiences that can be monetized by TV programmers, said Geoff Katz, vice president of business development and marketing for Watchwith. “Originally people felt like they needed to be able to provision their own app directly to consumers,” he said. “I think what we're seeing today is they need to work that way,” sometimes, but they also realize that other apps could really capture users’ imaginations and “take the day."
The announcement also indicates that app developers are recognizing the TV content owners “hold the keys to high-value, advertiser-friendly premium content experiences,” said Zane Vella, Watchwith’s CEO. Adding that kind of content to Dijit’s NextGuide app will help keep users engaged in the app while they watch TV programming, Dijit CEO Jeremy Toeman said.
The Fox companion content can be licensed by other app makers but Fox does put some restrictions on how the content can be used, Tankersley said. “We have to put a commercial deal in place with anybody that wants this relationship,” he said. “It’s not just free for the taking, but we have a fairly reasonable set of standardized terms that allow us to retain some rights and some control."
Whether and how money will be made from synchronized TV apps is still something of an open question. “Sponsored content has to be part of this system,” Tankersley said. “Starting from the basic proposition that we can put ads in our content and they can put ads in their apps is fine,” he said. But figuring out how that will work in practice will be tricky, he said. “Part of what we're trying to do is make sure we're actively participating in the discussion and development of business models.”