Viacom Music and Logo Group Revamps Apps

The Viacom Music and Logo Group has rolled out a new MTV and MTV2 app for iPhone and iPad that highlights significant changes in its app strategy.

The new app includes full episode viewing of new series, expanded second screen co-viewing features, improved search and social media capabilities, access to full episodes of some classic MTV series and much beefed up original content offering.

Those features are part of a larger effort to offer more features into a single branded app for its channels and they represent a significant expansion of the content available on apps as part of its growing TV Everywhere deals.

"You really have three apps in one," with VOD access to full episodes for TV Everywhere authenticated subscribers, expanded second-screen features and new digital only content, said Kristin Frank, executive VP of connected content for Viacom Music and Logo Group.

In the past, MTV and VH1 had separate second-screen sync or co-viewing apps, the MTV WatchWith and the VH1 Co-Star apps. Those features have now been consolidated into the new MTV app.

"Weve been very active in the second screen and social space in the last few years," Frank said. "This makes it easier for fans to access and use daily."

As part of that effort, the group is planning to launch similar apps for VH1, CMT and Logo for Apples iOS platform in the coming months, Frank said in a pre-launch briefing. It is also planning to launch the MTV/MTV2 app on Android and Xbox by the end of the year.

The MTV/MTV2 app also represents the first time that the group is making a significant amount of full episodes available on demand as part of TV Everywhere authenticated apps. For full episodes, much of the focus is on current MTV series but the app will also include access to select iconic retro shows, including Beavis and Butt-head, Daria, and Laguna Beach.

While Viacom had been relatively cautious about inking TV Everywhere deals, it has significantly expanded those agreements over the last year and the new MTV/MTV2 app will reach a large footprint of authenticated subscribers.

Access to full-length episodes in the MTV/MTV2 app will be included as part of a subscribers TV service package that includes MTV and/or MTV2 from nine major multichannel providers reaching nearly 50 million homes, Frank said.

The multichannel providers with TV Everywhere deals with Viacom include AT&T U-verse, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, DirecTV, Hawaiian Telecom, RCN, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS.

Generally, the apps will provide short-form content and one full episode of each series to all users as a promotional tool but will require authentication as a multichannel subscriber for access to the rest of the full episodes, added Colin Helms, senior VP of the connected content group for MTV.

Both the authenticated and non-authenticated content will have ads. Pepsi has signed on as a launch partner of the MTV/MTV 2 app with a "presenting sponsor presence."

Pepsi will also exclusively have the summer music section of the app.

Another notable feature of the new app is the debut of the new Viacom Music and Logo Group connected content lab that will create new content and work on new approaches to development and production of new video franchises, Helms said.

The first launch of this effort will be in the MTV Other section of the MTV app. "The goal is to experiment with a lot of new formats and talent and create a format where young creators can get into our development system and test new ideas," Helms said.

The app will launch with all the episodes of several new franchises, he added. Then they will add a new franchise every week or two weeks.

As the other channels roll out new apps, they will also offer original content.

The MTV Other content will be ad-supported but not require authentication. "We want to see what works and then look at how it might manifest itself on other screens," he said.

The first series from this effort include Late Night Munchies, with Thu Tran, former host of IFCs Food Party; Inside Joke, produced in conjunction with the website Splitsider.com; and Rock Stories, an animated series.

LINK:	http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/494023-Viacom_Music_and_Logo_...
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