TV broadcasters have been trying to tap into the mobile market for years, considering the entire world spends pretty much all day on their phones. Just last year, Comcast debuted SEEit in the USA, a service that allows you to use hashtags to turn your Twitter into a TV. Now, British broadcasting company Sky—the UK home of “Mad Men” and “Game of Thrones”—has launched its own magic hashtags for Europe.
This is one of the greatest marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen; I just want to point that out.
#WatchonSky is remarkably easy to use: the company sends out a tweet about a specific show, complete with the hashtag #WatchOnSky. When you expand the tweet, you can click on one of two icons: the first will allow you to start watching that show right now on your smartphone or tablet, while the second will tell your DVR to start recording the show.
Of course, you have to actually be subscribed to Sky—or Comcast here in the good old USA—to access the service: you need to sign in with your Sky ID before the tweet will turn into a live show. Also, #WatchOnSky currently only works on iPhones, iPads, and other iOS devices, as Android will make you download Sky’s app instead of staying on Twitter.
However, neither of those flaws are big problems: like always when it comes to TV broadcasting for mobile, Sky’s biggest two hurdles are first, that the Internet has pretty much ensured that nobody wants to pay for TV anymore, and second, that nobody wants to watch TV on something roughly the size of your palm. Not even if it’s Game of Thrones.
So I want to watch this on a giant flatscreen; I’m spoiled. Sue me.
Regardless, it’s undoubtedly a clever way for companies to start using the formidable power of hashtags. Sky will send out tweets with the #WatchOnSky hashtag from multiple Twitter accounts, including @SkyHD, @SkyMovies, and @SkySports.
Source CNET
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