Myspace chose 2012 International CES and Panasonic Viera Connect-enabled HDTVs as its first public initiative to become more than a late-night comedian’s punchline, bringing Justin Timberlake on stage to announce the launch of Myspace TV. Viera Connect is Panasonic’s connected TV platform.
Timberlake is a major investor and co-owner of the social platform, so it makes sense to use his considerable star wattage to light up Myspace chief executive officer Tim Vanderhook as the new over-the-top television service was unveiled. The emphasis of Myspace TV is on connecting people around the programming they collectively choose to watch, which is intended to restore the value of real-time TV as it effects deeper engagement, simplified discovery, and interaction – which at its most basic level creates fan communities to comment, rate, chat and evangelize to friends.
“We’re ready to take television and entertainment to the next step by upgrading it to the social networking experience,” Timberlake said. “Why text or email your friends to talk about your favorite programs after they’ve aired when you could be sharing the experience with real-time interactivity from anywhere across the globe? This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions, the television. And, we no longer have to crowd around the same one to experience it together.”
Myspace, which apparently has demoted its capital letter S, has a seriously undervalued vault full of music and music video rights. It initially will leverage these for Myspace TV when it launches in the next few months, but promises it will expand to enfold broadcast and on-demand movies, news, sports, unscripted shows and anything else on TV within its social embrace. A companion app will be available on tablets and smartphones. At the moment, Myspace is giving its TV service a workout in invitation-only beta.
Vanderhook’s statement: “Myspace was the first successful social network because it allowed individuals to share their interests, listen to music, express their creativity and connect around the things they love. Historically, TV has been a shared experience, as people gathered together to watch their favorite programs. Our belief was that we could enhance the TV experience by increasing viewers’ ability to connect to both content and each other. By partnering with Panasonic, we’re bringing together the content that people love and a social experience in one service: Myspace TV.”
Joseph Taylor, chairman chief executive officer, Panasonic Corp. of North America: “Year after year, Panasonic’s Viera Connect Smart Viera TV platform has continued to expand rapidly but with a singular focus to deliver to our consumers an extremely robust and interactive connected TV experience that can be customized and enjoyed on their large-screen HDTVs. We are proud to partner with the new Myspace on the debut of Myspace TV on our Viera Connect Smart TV platform. By partnering with a brand like Myspace on the Viera Connect Smart TV platform, we’re taking connected TV to a whole new level of engaging, interactive experiences for consumers.”
Related links:
http://www.myspace.com/music/blog/2012/1/9/the-new-myspace-tv-will-blow-your-mind
http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/viera-televisions
http://www.justintimberlake.com
Photo shows Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker in “The Social Network”
MySpace is still in the top 10 Social networking sites, beating out Google+, according to Nielsen:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/nielsens-tops-of-2011-digital/
(Scroll down to the chart were MySpace is mentioned.)
MySpace is #16 on Seomoz:
http://www.seomoz.org/top500
According to Google’s own stats, MySpace is still in the top 100 sites worldwide, ahead of Tumblr & HuffPo. Surprisingly, Reddit is nowhere in sight:
http://www.google.com/adplanner/static/top1000/
Just looking at that list and counting Social networking sites, MySpace comes in at number 5.