Comcast customers will soon be able to access some television shows from Twitter messages about those shows, the two companies jointly announced on Wednesday.
The feature will initially be turned on only for Twitter posts published by Comcast-owned channels, like NBC, about their shows, like “The Voice.” The two companies said they are in talks with other distributors and channel owners about extending the feature — called See It — to other shows.
Eventually Comcast wants See It to show up on other Web sites and apps as well, so that online conversation and news coverage about TV series and movies can directly lead users to those series and movies. The technology will test the interconnectedness of television and the social Web, two media that enhance one another while simultaneously competing for advertising dollars and attention.
The See It feature is part of a broader strategic partnership between Twitter and Comcast, the nation’s largest cable television provider. The announcement comes as the privately held Twitter prepares to sell stock to the public. Television was mentioned dozens of times in the initial public offering prospectus that Twitter published last week, evidence of the company’s belief that its partnerships with the television industry are vital to its future growth.
As part of the announcement on Wednesday, NBCUniversal, the umbrella company that includes channels like NBC, the NBC Sports Network, USA, and E!, will join Twitter’s Amplify advertising program, which attaches ads to short video clips distributed through the social networking service. ESPN, Fox and CBS are among other participants in Amplify.
The Comcast-Twitter relationship may also result in connections between Twitter data and Comcast’s on-screen guide — for example, the guide could someday tell customers which TV shows are generating the most Twitter chatter at any given hour.
But See It, which will start appearing on Twitter in November, will be the first piece of the partnership. The feature overlays parts of a cable television subscription onto Twitter: when NBC publishes a post about “The Voice,” for instance, a See It button will appear at the bottom of the post, encouraging the user to take some sort of action. Users who click the button will be asked to log in with their cable username and password, the same way they have to log in to watch on-demand programming online.
“Our expectation is that we’re going to have other multichannel distributors and other programmers as part of this platform pretty quickly,” said Samuel Schwartz, the chief business development officer for Comcast Cable.
In the beginning, Comcast customers who log in will be able to, depending on the circumstances, start watching “The Voice” live on their big-screen TV or mobile device; start watching an on-demand version of the show; or set their digital video recorder to record the show.
Twitter users without a Comcast username and password will be directed to NBC’s Web site or app to watch the videos there.
In a statement, the Comcast chief executive, Brian L. Roberts, called See It “a simple yet powerful feature that creates an instant online remote control.”
For Twitter, the feature is another opportunity to promote itself as a destination for television conversation and as a friend to the networks. In a blog post on Wednesday, its headline about the partnership was “Change the channel directly from Twitter.”
“Millions of users are exposed to the live conversation that unfolds on Twitter while a show is on the air and now, with See It, they’ll be able to tune in directly from a Tweet,” Dick Costolo, the chief executive of Twitter, said in his statement.
Mr. Schwartz said the feature would be enabled for Twitter posts from NBCUniversal’s networks at first, but could expand from there: “It’s easy for us to make it so that if anybody uses the hashtag for ‘The Voice,’ then the See It button would appear next to their tweet.”
Mr. Schwartz said Comcast would encourage other Web sites and apps to include the button as well. He asserted that closer ties between TV conversation and actual viewership would be beneficial for all parties, including publishers, programmers and viewers.
Convincing Comcast and Twitter’s rivals to participate will probably prove to be difficult, though. When asked whether the See It feature could appear on Facebook, Mr. Schwartz didn’t answer directly, but said, “Ultimately, it could be on every part of the Web and every app.”
The feature will initially be turned on only for Twitter posts published by Comcast-owned channels, like NBC, about their shows, like “The Voice.” The two companies said they are in talks with other distributors and channel owners about extending the feature — called See It — to other shows.
Eventually Comcast wants See It to show up on other Web sites and apps as well, so that online conversation and news coverage about TV series and movies can directly lead users to those series and movies. The technology will test the interconnectedness of television and the social Web, two media that enhance one another while simultaneously competing for advertising dollars and attention.
The See It feature is part of a broader strategic partnership between Twitter and Comcast, the nation’s largest cable television provider. The announcement comes as the privately held Twitter prepares to sell stock to the public. Television was mentioned dozens of times in the initial public offering prospectus that Twitter published last week, evidence of the company’s belief that its partnerships with the television industry are vital to its future growth.
As part of the announcement on Wednesday, NBCUniversal, the umbrella company that includes channels like NBC, the NBC Sports Network, USA, and E!, will join Twitter’s Amplify advertising program, which attaches ads to short video clips distributed through the social networking service. ESPN, Fox and CBS are among other participants in Amplify.
The Comcast-Twitter relationship may also result in connections between Twitter data and Comcast’s on-screen guide — for example, the guide could someday tell customers which TV shows are generating the most Twitter chatter at any given hour.
But See It, which will start appearing on Twitter in November, will be the first piece of the partnership. The feature overlays parts of a cable television subscription onto Twitter: when NBC publishes a post about “The Voice,” for instance, a See It button will appear at the bottom of the post, encouraging the user to take some sort of action. Users who click the button will be asked to log in with their cable username and password, the same way they have to log in to watch on-demand programming online.
“Our expectation is that we’re going to have other multichannel distributors and other programmers as part of this platform pretty quickly,” said Samuel Schwartz, the chief business development officer for Comcast Cable.
In the beginning, Comcast customers who log in will be able to, depending on the circumstances, start watching “The Voice” live on their big-screen TV or mobile device; start watching an on-demand version of the show; or set their digital video recorder to record the show.
Twitter users without a Comcast username and password will be directed to NBC’s Web site or app to watch the videos there.
In a statement, the Comcast chief executive, Brian L. Roberts, called See It “a simple yet powerful feature that creates an instant online remote control.”
For Twitter, the feature is another opportunity to promote itself as a destination for television conversation and as a friend to the networks. In a blog post on Wednesday, its headline about the partnership was “Change the channel directly from Twitter.”
“Millions of users are exposed to the live conversation that unfolds on Twitter while a show is on the air and now, with See It, they’ll be able to tune in directly from a Tweet,” Dick Costolo, the chief executive of Twitter, said in his statement.
Mr. Schwartz said the feature would be enabled for Twitter posts from NBCUniversal’s networks at first, but could expand from there: “It’s easy for us to make it so that if anybody uses the hashtag for ‘The Voice,’ then the See It button would appear next to their tweet.”
Mr. Schwartz said Comcast would encourage other Web sites and apps to include the button as well. He asserted that closer ties between TV conversation and actual viewership would be beneficial for all parties, including publishers, programmers and viewers.
Convincing Comcast and Twitter’s rivals to participate will probably prove to be difficult, though. When asked whether the See It feature could appear on Facebook, Mr. Schwartz didn’t answer directly, but said, “Ultimately, it could be on every part of the Web and every app.”