These days, there seem to be countless contenders trying to become the next TV Guide. Soon, another company is going to throw their hat in the ring: GetGlue CEO Alex Iskold told me yesterday that the company is currently working on a new iteration of its iPad app that will be a “personalized version of the TV Guide.”
The new app will launch sometime in the first quarter of 2012, Iskold said, and it will feature a lot more options to interact with content on the second screen while watching TV. One example: GetGlue wants to serve up “interviews with stars or clips that didn’t make it” into a TV show, Iskold explained. Some of that data will be crowdsourced, while other resources may come directly from TV networks. GetGlue is now partnering with 75 TV networks in the U.S. and the U.K., and plans to add more partners in Latin America later this year.
The company relaunched its iPhone and web apps Wednesday, and Android is next in line for a new coat of paint. However, don’t expect your Kindle Fire or Android tablet to get the same kind of love the iPad is going to receive with the next update. Iskold told me that GetGlue is supporting Android tablets with its current app, but that there are no tablet-specific plans for Android in store: “We are not in the business of building customized apps for every platform,” he said. Oh snap!
GetGlue started off with pure Foursquare-like check-ins for media content, but the company has been moving towards curating conversations around media, and especially TV in recent months. Part of that has also been an effort to channel conversations around a show that isn’t necessarily watched at the same time by everyone. New data from GetGlue shows that only 35 percent of its users watch a show live, but 70 percent tune in later the same or the following day.
GetGlue also announced a new $ 12 million round of financing Wednesday, which is led by Rho Ventures. Existing investors Time Warner, RRE Ventures, and Union Square Ventures, from which the company raised $ 6 million in November of 2010, are all part of this round as well.
GetGlue has now around 40 people on staff, and plans to grow its headcount in 2012. Iskold told me that he hopes for social TV to become mainstream within the next 24 months, and he wants the company’s upcoming iPad app to be a big part of that. “A lot of really interesting things are happening on the second screen,” he said.
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