The social TV revolution is in full swing, and last week Kit Digital showed off its contribution at the NAB show in Vegas. Kit’s Social Program Guide is a white label product for service providers that lays social functionality on top of a traditional EPG. Even if you don’t want to tweet from your TV, Kit offers features that help you discover what friends are watching. The guide also provides recommendations based on a combination of personal preferences and activity in your social circle. Want to keep the social stuff limited to your iPad? Kit lets you do that too, offering a cross-platform application for browsing comments and background info on your lap, while leaving the main entertainment up on the big screen.
If my experience at the Cable-Tec Expo last fall is any indicator, lots of companies are getting into the TV guide business. And everyone is touting a combination of cloud-based technology, social content discovery, and new advertising opportunities. Kit Digital is no different, but it does have an appealing interface and some nice touches. I like the asynchronous commenting feature, and the ability to set up individual accounts in a household. Here’s a list of capabilities, as provided by Kit Digital lead analyst and loyal ZNF reader Alan Wolk.
Social Program Guide Features:
- Individual accounts: Every family member gets their own account which is tied to their social networks. That means everyone can be sharing a first screen experience while simultaneously having a personalized second screen experience.
- Watchlist: Your go-to screen, it combines all the shows you’ve recorded, added to the watch list or bookmarked via the (pay) On Demand service.
- TV Guide: Two views: a traditional Grid EPG that highlights which shows your friends are watching, and a Recommended Viewing matrix that sorts what’s currently on air via an algorithm that combines your preferences with recommendations and activity from your social graph and/or critics.
- Asynchronous commenting: If you are watching something after it’s aired, your friends comments are saved in a timeline and shown in real time, so you the experience is not ruined by spoilers.
- Multiscreen: You can watch on any screen you like – tablet, smartphone and, of course, your television. You can move the show from one device to another with just one tap.