Viacom Reaches Into Zeebox

Joins Comcast, NBCU and HBO as partner for second-screen app

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/4/2012 9:31:50 AM

Viacom has signed on as a strategic partner with British startup Zeebox, joining Comcast, NBCUniversal and HBO in tapping the second-screen app to deliver enhanced content and ads synchronized with its cable shows on TV.

The Zeebox app, which debuted in the U.S. last Thursday, lets users indicate which live TV programming they're watching and then delivers related content in real time, provided by TV programmers and advertisers as well as culled from the Web and social networks. The free-to-download app, available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android smartphones and the Web, also enables e-commerce features.

Like Comcast and NBCU, Viacom will  support Zeebox with promotional commitments. Comcast and NBCU have each taken separate equity stakes in Zeebox; the amount of their investments was not disclosed. Other investors include BSkyB in the U.K.

"Viacom has the most socially engaged audiences anywhere, and we're constantly striving to give our fans new ways to discover and connect with our content," Viacom Media Networks chief operating officer Rich Eigendorff said in a statement. "Zeebox is a powerful new platform to create even richer and more interactive experiences around our programming, and build an even deeper connection between our brands and our fans."

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