Netflix? What Netflix? Says Sky as it announces a partnership with Zeebox that it hopes will see Sky customers getting social as they watch TV using the Sky mobile apps.
Sky is set to be the only TV platform in the UK to offer Zeebox integration in its bespoke mobile apps (including Sky+ and Sky Go), with the new 'augmented' features set to hit Sky's apps during the first half of this year.
You may recall Zeebox from its launch last year – it's a social app that allows you to see what your friends are watching, find out more about TV shows that are on, chat as you watch the gogglebox and even buy products featured in programmes and adverts.
Sensible
It's a partnership that certainly makes sense for Sky, as Emma Lloyd, Sky's director of emerging products, explains, "We know that millions of our customers have smartphones and tablets and regularly use them to engage with Sky on mobile devices, so [the integration of Zeebox] is a natural next step for us."
Having launched as a web platform on iPhone, iPad, Android and online, Zeebox has a lot of potential but really needs a bigger user base to become truly useful – and Sky, which is currently in around 10.3 million homes across the UK, can certainly provide that.
What's more, the cash-money that the deal has obviously brought in will allow Zeebox's plans for world domination to continue apace.
"Thanks to Sky's backing we now also have the resources and expertise to set our sights firmly on international expansion alongside further innovation here in the UK and Ireland," clarified Ernesto Schmitt, the co-founder and CEO of Zeebox.
