Social check-in app GetGlue has been making significant strides in the mobile space lately with the release of an Android app following success on the iPhone earlier this summer. Today, the popular app which allows users to check-in, rate and like things like movies, TV shows and music, has come to everyone’s favorite “lean back” entertainment device, the iPad. With some added functionality (and more sticker deals to boot), GetGlue hopes its iPad app will become your couch surfing app of choice for “second screen” media interaction.
Lean Back, Check In
Those familiar with GetGlue on the Web or on their phones will find the iPad app very familiar. As one would expect, the app lets you check-in to the service’s 8 standard categories – music, movies, TV shows, books, games, wine, topics and celebrities. The added screen size of the iPad lets you more efficiently like, rate and comment on items without leaving each screen by utilizing pop-ups and overlays.
The startup hopes these overlays will encourage social interaction on the app as people enjoy things like movies and TV shows. The overlays, which will be familiar to users of the Twitter for iPad app, allow users to chat and discuss the media they are consuming with their friends and contacts in real-time – a practice that has many broadcast channels and movie studios excited.
Stickers from Glee, Dexter, TWiT and More
So excited, in fact, that many have refreshed their campaigns for special GetGlue stickers, which users can collect by watching and checking into shows and events. FOX has agreed to promote its wildly popular show Glee, long-running hit Bones, as well as a pair of new shows – Raising Hope and Lone Star – with special GetGlue Stickers.
HBO is running a unique campaign that rewards users for checking into each new episode of its anticipated series Boardwalk Empire. If users watch each episode on its debut night in succession, they will “level up” and earn a special sticker at the end of the season. Other shows and movies announcing campaigns include Showtime’sDexter, PBS’NOVA and Charlie Rose, Universal Pictures’ upcoming releases Catfish and Devil, and Leo Laporte’s TWiT podcast network.
According to GetGlue’s Fraser Kelton, media networks have been impressed by the results their sticker campaigns have garnered, attracting them back again for expanded programs.
“Within 5 minutess of True Blood airing 2 weeks ago, 5,000 fans concurrently checked-in with an estimated reach of about 1 million people on Twitter,” says Kelton. “The benefit of having trusted recommendations coming out from friends and reaching that number of people is a huge win for them.”
Kelton adds that shows and movies that run sticker promotions on GetGlue see far better engagement from the platform compared to those that don’t. While this is to be expected, it is evidence that the social check-in platform is a viable market for advertising campaigns from big brands, stations, and studios.
