never.no, Pixel Power Align For 360-Degree Broadcasting

Pixel Power, a supplier of broadcast playout solutions with integrated graphics, has announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with never.no, the social television and social advertising platform. The alliance unites two sector leaders to provide broadcasters and TV producers with the perfect platform to bring together primary and second screen activities to allow a 360 degree viewer experience.

never.no’s Interactivity Suite provides the back-end framework needed to enable end-to-end Social TV, Synchronised Companion Apps and Participation TV. One of its core functions is the ability to harvest social media commentaries across e-mail, SMS, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more so that they can be brought into the live broadcast domain. In turn, Pixel Power’s globally renowned graphics technology – including Clarity™, LogoVision™, BrandMaster™ and ChannelMaster™ – then takes that information to air, in as graphically rich a way as the broadcaster desires and without the addition of unnecessarily complex workflows.

Lars Lauritzsen, CEO of never.no, says, “Broadcast absolutely needs to be part of the social media conversation and this has been recognised by TV stations and producers around the world. From sports fans to reality TV lovers, news hounds to soap opera followers, the interaction between second screen social media activity and TV viewing is a vital interface in the battle for viewer loyalty and creating a real buzz around content.”

Much research around social media, in conjunction with broadcast TV provides evidence that it creates higher engagement with programming. Some studies show that when people use social media that’s correlated with what they’re watching, their engagement is about 1.4x higher. Social media not only drives loyalty, but as messages are being spread that tie in with that programming across a large online network, this activity then increases viewer numbers.

Pixel Power’s data integration makes it very easy to work with third-parties like never.no as the company exposes the full feature set of its graphics devices via an XML interface. This provides tremendous data presentation flexibility. Pixel Power’s technology provides precise onscreen presentation feedback under automated or manual operator control, allowing accurate data synchronisation with live broadcast.

“Working with never.no makes social media integration for broadcasters effortless and seamless,” says James Gilbert, Pixel Power Joint MD. “It allows broadcasters to take advantage without incurring integration or development costs. It’s vital that onscreen brand identity is maintained while incorporating these new feeds, an area in which we have a considerable amount of expertise. Social media is here to stay and this strategic alliance allows broadcasters to benefit from technology leaders in both fields.”