Tweek TV, Europe’s first social TV guide, has left stealth mode this week with its iPad product opening up to users in Germany, the US and the UK in closed beta. The ‘next-gen TV discovery’ service, from Berlin-based startup Ubertweek, is aimed at helping users discover and watch shows relevant to them by tapping into their social interests.
The idea is to help TV viewers avoid browsing through channels and settling for something they don’t particularly like, but rather watch something they actually enjoy.
Users connect to existing social network accounts (currently Facebook, with Twitter to be added later) with Tweek TV, which then starts a data mining process to extract the interests of the users and their friends to create a ‘personalized, social video discovery experience.’
Tweek’s co-founders include Klaus Hartl, Sven Koerbitz and Marcel Duee, while BMP Media, Catagonia Capital and Euroserve Media are among the investors. Marcel said: “Every minute, people upload 48 hours of video content. An increasing volume of this content is high quality content. Streaming services offer 24/7 access to movies and TV shows. Content is everywhere nowadays. The old logic ʻcontent is kingʼ is in transition towards the discovery of content. Tweek TV will revolutionize the way users discover content in front of their TV.”
The startup, which was founded earlier this year and has six employees, is set to launch Tweek TV in early 2012. The first funding round was announced this week, with the funds raised – reportedly a “high six figure” – to be used mainly to build the product team and handle the public launch.