Boost Viewership by Adding These 7 Features to Your TV Show’s App

Late night shows are all the rage in the USA. As of 2017, the number of people who typically watch them was equal to 34.44 million. It stands to reason that marketers are jumping at this trend to advertise their products or services during prime time.

Second screening popularity amplifies these marketing opportunities. By creating a multi-screen environment for your show, you’ll be able to increase brand recognition, boost viewership, and engage your users.

However, building an app with features like videos, pictures, and news on a particular show broadcast is not enough. In this article, we’ll walk you through the ways of enhancing your app with advanced functionality.

1. Live chatting

Your mobile app can turn into a hub of fascinating and wide-ranging discussions on the show. Blaze a trail by allowing spectators to share their thoughts via in-app chats during live broadcast. Spare them the need to open their social media accounts or messengers to speak out.

Increased user engagement is what you’ll enjoy in the end.

2. Calendar

Living in such a frenetic and busy world, we often forget doing the things that help us relax. Watching a favorite TV show is one of those things.

If you don’t want your spectators to miss the broadcast, creating a personalized in-app calendar could also be a good idea. Just allow them to set reminders and get timely alerts when the show begins.

3. Contests

Although the year 2013 was full of stunning, front-page news, the most read story on the New York Times website became a quiz. This fact suggests that interactive content may be the future of digital marketing.

Whet users’ appetite for your show by launching an in-app competition. Rest assured that the opportunity to win a free ticket or a branded item — especially during the holiday season — will capture viewer attention, increase the number of app downloads, and improve engagement.

The contest format may vary — from photo and video challenges to quizzes and ‘submit your story’ type deals.

4. Multimedia content

As a rule, late night show hosts invite celebrities for a talk. The interest to the guest grows, and spectators turn to mobile search for additional info. Here’s where your app should get on the stick and become a second screen of choice by providing trivia.

These may be guests’ short BIOs, the number of their appearances on the show, photos and videos from the previous shows, and more.

Take it up another notch by introducing an advanced option — ‘Ask the guest’ — to engage your viewership and attract more eyeballs.

5. Shopping

According to the official stats, mobile commerce is on the cusp of becoming the go-to habit for US shoppers. During the fourth quarter of 2016, mCommerce accounted for 20.8% of digital commerce expenditure in the USA, with all signs indicating further growth.

Is that not enough to make you build a mobile app store for spectators? Rest assured that the opportunity to shop online for tickets or show-related products will be most welcomed by loyal viewers.

6. Social feeds

The report by ‘We Are Social’ and Hootsuite reveals that there are 2.80 billion social users globally. An impressive number, isn’t it?

Your show’s fans won’t mind surfing social networks, either, reading interesting posts and doing their own ones. Integrate the show’s social feeds with the app, helping users keep abreast of every single thing happening around the show.

7. Branded games

The mobile game industry continues to mature. Currently, there are over 2 billion gamers worldwide, and this number is expected to soar to 2.7 billion by 2021.

You, as an expert marketer, should certainly take advantage of this trend by spicing up your show with branded mobile games. This way, you’ll get new viewers and won’t let them get bored during commercial breaks.

Ready for changes?

Want your marketing efforts to bring positive outcomes? Give your users an app packed with useful, time-saving features they will love.

Since building an advanced TV Show app may be a challenge, consider consulting custom mobile app development experts to help you make a sleek product with a great UI, seamless integrations, robust security, and an ability to function smoothly under high load.

About the Author:

Yana Yelina is a Technology Writer at Oxagile, a leading-edge mobile application development company with more than 50 successful mobile projects under its belt. Oxagile provides mobile apps of any complexity: from award-winning B2C applications to heavy enterprise-grade solutions. You can reach Yana at [email protected] or connect via LinkedIn or Twitter.