Case Study Analysis
ZEEBOX
Zeebox
1. About Zeebox
Company
Zeebox is a social TV and social networking second screen platform, which invites viewers to engage in online conversations, provides contextual information, enables consumers to buy what they see on screen and to remote control their TV. The company was founded in 2011 by former BBC iPlayer CTO Anthony Rose and Ernesto Schmitt, ex-board director of EMI Music (Zeebox, 2013). The company has a very experienced and highly qualified team, including Elio Leoni-Sceti, Max Bleyleben, Alex Nunes, Craig Blair and Jason Forbes (see appendix 1). Zeebox was no 14 in Stratups awards in 2011 and in 2012 the app was awarded for the best Design or User Interface in ITVT’s Awards for Leadership in Interactive and Multiplatform Television Awards (LinkedIn, 2013), 50 Best iPhone Apps 2013 – Time Magazine (Aamoth, 2013), App of the Year 2012- Mashable (GooglePlay, 2013), T3 Award for the App of the Year 2012 (Parsons, 2012), and multiple awards won for Zeebox by Anthony Rose (Appendix 1.1)
Timeline and markets
A British company Zeebox Limited launched the application in October 2011. In 2012 BSkyB acquired 10 per cent equity stake in Zeebox reportedly worth over £10m (Farey-Jones, 2012). The deal secured exclusive rights in the UK to integrate Zeebox’s technology in Sky mobile apps, providing start-up company with capital to expand internationally (Bradshaw, 2012). In September 2012 Zeebox was launched in US with strategic investment from Comcast, NBC Universal and HBO (Lawler, 2012). Finally, in November 2012 Zeebox was launched through a joint venture with Network Ten and Foxtel in Australia (Zeebox, 2012).
Consumers
Anthony Rose revealed while giving a speech at the PEVE Entertainment conference that Zeebox has been downloaded more than five million times globally with more than two
References: Schweizer, K. (2013), Zeebox Aims to Be the Ultimate App for TV Watching, Business Week [online]. Available: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-02/zeebox-aims-to-be-the-ultimate-app-for-tv-watching Accessed: 26/11/2013 Kiss, J McGovan, L. (2013), Zeebox Adds New TV Rooms Social Feature, Ad Week [online]. Available: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/zeebox-adds-new-tv-rooms-social-feature-150139 Accessed: 26/11/2013 Farey-Jones, D Andrews, R. (2012), Zeebox Searches For Money In TV’s Social Second Screen, Paid Content [onloine]. Available at: http://paidcontent.org/2012/02/10/419-zeebox-searches-for-money-in-tvs-social-second-screen/ Accessed: 26/11/1013 Davis, B Parsons, J. (2012), T3 Gadget Awards 2012: Award Winners, T3 the Gadget Website [online]. Available: http://www.t3.com/news/t3-gadget-awards-2012-award-winners Accessed: 27/11/2013 Aamoth, D Hernandez, B. A. (2012), Inside “The Voice” Social Engine That Powered Season 3, Mashable [online]. Available: http://mashable.com/2012/12/18/the-voice-social-media-season-3/ Accessed: 27/11/2013 Google Play (2013), Entertainment [online] Accessed: 27/11/2013 Channel4, (2011), Channel 4 Partner With Zeebox For Desperate Scousewives, 4 Press [online] Lawler, R. (2012), Zeebox Partners With Comcast, NBC Universal & HBO To Launch TV App In The US, Tech Crunch [online]. Available: http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/26/zeebox-us-launch-comcast-nbcu-hbo Accessed: 27/11/2013 Kanji, K Informitv, (2011), Zeebox Offers New Way to Watch Television, Connected Vision [online]. Available: http://informitv.com/news/2011/10/30/zeeboxoffersnew Accessed: 27/11/2013 Zeebox (2013), About Us [online] MisoTV (2013), GoMiso [online]. Available: http://gomiso.com Accessed: 27/11/2013 IntoNow (2013), Get More From TV, IntoNow from Yahoo [online] Viggle (2013), Make TV More Rewarding [online]. Available: http://www.viggle.com Accessed: 27/11/2013 GoMiso (2012), Miso Launches Quips, The Best Way To Talk About TV! Miso Blogs [online] The Wall Street Journal (2013), Leadership Styles, Europe Edition [online] Digital TV Europe (2013), Zeebox ‘TV Room’ engagement passes 1 million minutes, News [online]. Available: http://www.digitaltveurope.net/88162/zeebox-tv-room-engagement-passes-1-million-minutes Accessed: 28/11/2013 Knox, D Zeebox (2013), Zeebox UK: Customes Feedback for Zeebox, Zeebox UK [online]. Available: https://zeebox.uservoice.com/forums/136812-zeebox-uk Accessed: 28/11/2013 9