Last month, one of the most highly-anticipated TV shows, Top Gear, made its way to the U.S., airing on The History Channel. After years of success in the UK, the American Top Gear premier made a splash by working with Invoke to launch its first “social TV” experience.
Through the site, powered by Invoke’s Social Viewing Companion platform, users can follow the conversation of other audience members on Twitter and through a video widget. Top Gear’s social viewing experience allows the show’s passionate fans to connect with each other and see a comprehensive overview of fan reactions.
More details are in the press release below, and check out the conversation following the Top Gear show, airing Sundays at 10pm ET, here.
HISTORY® and Invoke Launch First Top Gear “Social TV” Experience
Top Gear USA TV Series To Utilize Invoke’s Social Viewing Companion
Series Airs Sundays at 10pm ET/9C
New York, NY — HISTORY and Invoke, the interactive agency, today announced the launch of the Top Gear social viewing experience. One of the first to be powered by Invoke’s Social Viewing Companion platform, the application enables dual-screen audience interaction, both through social media and user-submitted video.
“HISTORY is always exploring innovative ways to engage our viewers at deeper levels. Invoke’s Social Viewing Companion is creating another experience that merges online conversation with television viewing,” says Ann Marie Granite, Senior Director, Marketing, HISTORY. “Top Gear has such an incredibly interactive audience already in place. The Top Gear social viewing application will allow our passionate fan base to further connect with each other and get a comprehensive overview of the reactions to the show, both in the application and through social media channels.”
Viewers can see a live feed of real-time Twitter conversations about the show and participate by posting their own comments to Twitter. The application also features an embedded Web app, powered by Invoke’s Vidrollr technology, that invites users to record video from their webcams and post it directly to the site.
“Our Vidrollr widget adds another layer of interactivity to the Social Viewing Companion, allowing fans to upload their video reactions and comments while watching the show,” said Dario Meli, co-founder of Invoke. “This implementation of the Social Viewing Companion really brings a new interconnectivity to shows with an existing viewership. It’s ‘social TV’ realized for the first time.”
The Social Viewing Companion is the only white-labeled platform of its kind, complementing existing viewing habits and maximizing social interactions around any TV show, movie, sports game or political town-hall forum. Using customized content, video submissions and social media feeds, Invoke’s social TV platform allows users to participate in a unique dual-screen conversation with other audience members.
Featuring super-cars, extreme stunts and challenges, car reviews and celebrity interviews, Top Gear is the home for anyone with a love of cars. Each episode of TOP GEAR features the three hosts in the Top Gear studio talking to celebrity guests, reviewing cars, going off on location to shoot amazing stunts and power tests with some of the most and least famous vehicles in America and testing their celebrity guest to a race around the studio track.
The U.S. version will be chock-full of high-adrenaline action entertainment as it tracks the colorful history of the automobile as well as the eccentric adventures of its hosts with TOP GEAR’s customary wit and humor. The series harkens back to HISTORY’s very first day, and the network’s very first program ever to air, Automobiles: Corvette. The series will be hosted by comedian and car buff Adam Ferrara, champion rally and drift racer Tanner Foust and racing analyst Rutledge Wood.
About HISTORY:
HISTORY® and HISTORY HD® are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network’s program offerings are hit series such as American Pickers, Ax Men, The Universe, Ice Road Truckers, Chasing Mummies, Top Shot and Pawn Stars, as well as acclaimed specials including America The Story Of Us, WWII In HD, 102 Minutes That Changed America, Moonshot and Life After People. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, seven Primetime Emmy® Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network’s Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network’s latest initiative connecting America’s schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY website, located at www.history.com, is the leading online resource for all things history, featuring over 20,000 videos, images, audio clips, articles and interactive features that allow visitors to dig deeper into a broad range of thousands of historical topics.
About Invoke:
Invoke is a full-service interactive agency, specializing in Web, mobile, and social app development for major brands and agencies. With Invoke’s suite of award-winning products, brand marketers are able to create unparalleled interactive experiences. Invoke’s proprietary applications include memelabs, the branded user-driven contest platform, HootSuite, the popular social media dashboard, Vidrollr, the next generation video conversation widget, and Hitt.it, the first white-labeled location-based mobile game app. Leading brands including Wells Fargo, Viacom, PBS, ESPN, and The History Channel have worked with Invoke to leverage social tools and apps in their marketing campaigns. Invoke also offers social media training, strategy and marketing services, which enhances its social media campaigns across the board. Invoke was founded in 2005 and has offices in Vancouver, Canada, and New York. More information is available at www.invokemedia.com.
