The social TV app formerly known as “Zeebox” has ambitions to offer advertisers new experiences, after rebranding to “Beamly” earlier this year.
First launched in 2011, Zeebox helped viewers learn and talk about shows during live broadcast. But it expanded to VOD and a greater female focus this year in its pivot.
“When a drama is on, most people want to focus on the TV show – trying to force the second-screen experience on certain TV shows didn’t fit well,” new CEO Jason Forbes tells Beet.TV in this video interview. “Feedback from both our partners – NBC, Viacom, Comcast – but also advertisers was, ‘We need to see scale’. We expanded out of second-screen to a 24/7 destination for TV.”
The move appears to have worked – Beamly is now targeting 10 million monthly unique users this coming Q1, compared with a million in February last year, according to Forbes. With the expansion, Beamly no longer only offers advertisers opportunities during linear TV moments inside its own app, but also on the websites of network broadcasters.
“As we think about advertising next year, we’re going to be in discussions to outline what’s possible within the context of these partners to super-charge sponsorship opportunities,” Forbes adds.
He was interviewed by Beet.TV at the TV Of Tomorrow show in New York.
