Startup geeks and reality TV ‘celebrities’ make curious bedfellows (so to speak). But the launch party for wywy‘s second screen app attracted a decent turnout of champagne-sipping tech folk to the Longshot Bar on Saturday.
And the star attraction? Former Germany’s Next Topmodel contestant Sarah Knappik, who offered up her thoughts on the weekend’s edition of Das Supertalent using wywy. The new app enables users to check into TV shows and post opinions directly to Facebook and Twitter. These check ins earn points which can be redeemed for Amazon tokens, while users can chat to each other on the second screen feature.
There was no doubt, amongst the cosy living room-like surroundings of the Friedrichshain bar, that the event had nailed it. For all the superior smugness startup people in Berlin might feel about those who follow every move of reality TV shows, the truth is that it is exactly this demographic which is most likely to take to second screen platforms.
The wywy app was certainly a hit. It has seemingly been given a relatively bland design in order not to distract the user too much from the TV screen. But the Munich-based startup is only one of many in the marketplace alongside companies such as Shazam, Zeebox, and GetGlue. The attraction is the interaction, and wywy are deliberately targeting some shows, especially reality TV and sport.
And the crowd loved Sarah, who has also appeared in The Perfect Celebrity Dinner and the German edition of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! She told Silicon Allee: “I love the app, it’s really great, for people like me who work in this business. They can be on TV, but with their friends on Twitter and ask, ‘Hey do you like my clothes, or do you like what I did there?'”
She also firmly believes that second screen will have a big rol to play in reality TV. “I think wywy is the future – people are sitting at home watching these shows, for me I’m always sat at home on the phone talking about the TV, but now I can just write it down, and share it.”
Currently, wywy is available on 50 channels in Europe and 30 others worldwide. Co-founder Andreas Schroeter told the crowd at the event: “Tonight we wanted to show off what it’s all about, that it’s super easy and anyone can use it and you can do it from your couch, and just have fun.”
He is, however, aware of the international competition. They have no plans, Andreas said, to try their luck across the pond where Shazam is already top dog, preferring to concentrate their activities in Europe. “To get the users in the US you need a great product, a lot of marketing dollars, and if you look at the players in the US they have tens of millions of marketing dollars.”
However with the acquisition over the summer of Israeli company Idioma, which specialises in monitoring broadcast TV, they are planning to sell the technology itself to those who do want to break America.
As for this week’s Das Talent, Sarah said she thought it was a little dull, and experienced her fair share of Fremdscham, but chatting on wywy with people made the show much more enjoyable.