zeebox and Telemundo Reshape TV Engagement

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- zeebox, the award-winning second screen companion today announced the results of the "Get a Room!" contest underlining consumer appetite for personalizing communities in TV viewing.  The contest, which launched last month, celebrated and rewarded TV watchers by inviting them to get creative and build their own TV Rooms for the chance to win daily prizes and ultimately $10,000. One of the media partners, Telemundo Media, hosted a room for its highly anticipated new series, "La Voz Kids," which pulled in around 8,000 members and served as a key destination for user engagement where one of the stars of the show, Kevin Aponte, regularly stopped by to chat live with fans.  Host Jorge Bernal surprised fans and jumped in on the fun during the finale.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130812/NY62581)

"TV viewing and interaction is changing right before our eyes," explained Peter Blacker, Executive Vice President, Digital & Emerging Businesses, Telemundo Media. "Just a few years ago, brands thought that posting original content online was the way of the future. Today it's really about working with new technologies like zeebox to allow fans to drive and change how content is consumed and created, and we want to continue to reward our fans for participating."

"La Voz Kids" drew in 14.6 million TV viewers in its first season – the highest in the network's history for the Sunday 8-11pm timeslot – and the viewer engagement in the official and fan-run TV Rooms mirrored its viewing success. During the season finale of the show that aired on July 28, fans in the zeebox "La Voz Kids" TV Room posted more than 2,000 comments, and member growth from launch to finale was 10x.

"TV Rooms and now the Get a Room contest have confirmed the demand from fans eager to engage and shape the dialogue around their favorite programming," said Jason Forbes, executive vice president and managing director of zeebox, US. "Telemundo is one of our leading partners in harnessing the power of this real-time brand ambassador program to fuel the growth of their audience's conversations."

The "Get a Room!" contest came off the heels of the June launch of zeebox's TV Rooms – the social community feature within the app that allows anyone to create vibrant communities around their favorite shows, stars and TV topics – further personalizing the activities of highly engaged TV viewing audiences.

The overall prize winner of the contest who nabbed the $10,000 prize for the most awesome TV Room is Heather Hogan, who created her "Heather Hogan's Summer TV Shenanigans" TV Room and engaged her members with some of the wittiest, most thoughtful TV Room conversation to date. Heather was also chosen for amping her TV Room through images, graphics and other rich media tools to inspire a multitude of conversations around the clock during the course of the contest.

In a post on Heather's personal blog, she captured the essence of the contest perfectly in her call to get her blog followers onboard: "If we work together – lol, work! like talking about TV isn't what we're all doing all the time anyway – maybe we can all win some more prizes!"

"My friends and I are constantly talking about our favorite TV shows, so when one of my friends turned me on to zeebox, I thought, 'OK, let's see if it offers anything different than the other apps or social media platforms I use'... And it did!" explained Hogan. "Rather than sending my thoughts out into the great big Internet void, zeebox allowed us a shared space where we could all start and contribute to conversations. Whether it was a fun poll about our favorite characters, hilarious video spoof or link to breaking news, zeebox collected it all in one place so we could enjoy it together whenever we had time to stop by the room. The contest may have drawn me in, but zeebox helped my friends and me build such a fun and interactive community that that we will continue use it as the go-to place to chat about everything TV."

In addition to the grand-prize winner, zeebox awarded $1,000 to one winner per day for the 30 days of the contest.

About zeebox

zeebox is the leading TV-watching companion that empowers users to have an interactive and personalized second screen experience. Within the app, consumers can set up their own communities with zeebox's exclusive 'TV Rooms,' engage with friends, view exclusive content, buy what they see on screen, remote control their TV and more.  Broadcasters and content owners partner with zeebox to enhance their TV shows, connect with fans and monetize this new medium in sync with live TV. zeebox was founded in 2011 by former iPlayer CTO Anthony Rose and EMI executive Ernesto Schmitt. The company is headquartered in London with offices in New York and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.zeebox.com.

ABOUT TELEMUNDO MEDIA
Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal, is a world-class media company, leading the industry in the production and distribution of high-quality Spanish-language content across its multiplatform portfolio to U.S. Hispanics and audiences around the world. Telemundo's multiple platforms include the Telemundo Network, a Spanish-language television network featuring original productions, theatrical motion pictures, news and first-class sports events, reaching U.S. Hispanic viewers in 210 markets through its 14 owned stations and its broadcast and cable affiliates; mun2, the preeminent voice for young Hispanics in the U.S. reaching TV households nationwide on digital and analog cable, and satellite; Telemundo Digital Media, which distributes Telemundo's original content across digital and emerging platforms including mobile devices, www.telemundo.com and www.mun2.tv; an owned and operated full power station in Puerto Rico that reaches 99% of all TV households in that DMA; and Telemundo Internacional, the international distribution arm which has positioned Telemundo as the second largest provider of Spanish-language content worldwide by syndicating content to more than 100 countries in over 35 languages.

SOURCE zeebox