It's Magic!
Let's talk about TV Tags. What is it, how are we bringing it to the market, what are some of the net benefits from a consumer standpoint? So, Zach, why don't you start in terms of what is this concept that we're calling TV Tags?
The concept really is around experiencing moments as they unfold in the program as you're watching. In a sporting event, it may be an exciting play. In a drama, it may be a plot twist. In a comedy, it may be a hilarious moment. As you're watching, moments unfold. The GamePad and Nintendo TVii capture these moments that we select. Once those moments exist, viewers can engage socially or deepen their experience with information about what just happened.
How did that come about? I mean, was it something that, Brad, you had seen in your experiences? Was it something, Zach and Masaki, from our perspectives that we were thinking about? Because it seems like it's a very unique feature of Nintendo TVii.
Well, we had actually built several models of social television experiences over about a two-year period, and about the time we engaged with Nintendo, we were at a point where we had done some initial tests around this tag concept. And so we presented the framework for it to the working team as we were collaborating with Nintendo. I would say that it's the outgrowth of trying ten other things that didn't work quite as well and discovering the one that did.
That's great.
One area of TV Tag that was built during our collaboration was the sports experience. It's a special part of Nintendo TVii where the right half of the screen on the GamePad discusses moments as they unfold—it could be about a great touchdown catch, or a controversial call. And as we previously discussed, viewers can then engage with those moments socially and in the search for more information. Then, the left half of the GamePad deepens the experience —a shot chart in basketball, a drive chart in football, all the stats, scores from around the league—all on the GamePad and synchronized with the game you're watching.
Yeah. And when the big play happens—instead of a shout in the dark on a social network, you can use the GamePad, and engage with others in the context of the show. We like it, we don't like it, we can trash talk our friend on Miiverse—all through this unified experience.
I'm a big sports fan and whenever I'm talking about Nintendo TVii, highlighting the sports applications is a really interesting area. For me, the thing that I find just so engaging is being able to zero in on a sporting event and to literally scroll back and get a sense of "What did I miss?" Right? You can see the score, but you don't have a sense of what it is that you've missed and that feature within Nintendo TVii, to me, is a real wow, in terms of something different that it delivers.
Let's talk a little bit about the nature of Nintendo TVii as a living, breathing service—and by that I mean what we will launch with will continue to evolve, and it'll be even better down the road. Let's start, Zach, with you. From a North American perspective, what Nintendo TVii will have on launch of the application and what are some of the added features that'll be coming in the days, weeks, and months ahead?
As we highlighted earlier, driving simplicity is critical for Nintendo TVii, and that starts with unifying all the different ways that people are watching video. That means compatibility with cable and satellite—that 104 million households use—with time-shifted viewing, on DVR, and in popular video services: Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus and Netflix. As we look at those three categories, linear TV9 or traditional cable and satellite represent 98 percent of video viewing (Nielson Q4, 2011).
So you begin there. This is a critical part of Nintendo TVii and a part that other platforms normally don't support. So that will be fully functional at launch. If you have cable and satellite, Nintendo TVii will be functional with your cable and satellite provider at launch. For DVR, we've previously mentioned TiVo10. TiVo will be coming on board in January. And for the video applications, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video will be supported at launch, with Netflix expected to be available in early 2013.
9. Linear TV: The traditional way of watching television on TV channels usually received through a cable or satellite provider.
10. TiVo: Refers to the DVR device and services provided by TiVo, Inc. Its corporate headquarters are located in Alviso, CA. Established 1997.
Great. Masaki, from your perspective as you look to the future in terms of some of the future integration, what are some of the things that you see and can anticipate in terms of how the service could get better?
We have many plans to evolve the service. For example, we would like to continue to add more integration with cable and satellite services.
Right. Brad, how about from your perspective as you think about some of the things that you look forward to integrating in the future iterations of Nintendo TVii? What types of things could you anticipate?
Well, I think that we'll continue to see more and more content integrated, broadening our choices. I think we'll also find brand new ways to engage. And those'll run the gamut from better ways to engage with my friends—bringing my universe close,—,—,and then also new ways in which the outside world can engage me.
You know, a show producer, for example, would love to engage more with his audience? He might enjoy getting feedback from the audience in real time. He might enjoy providing additional information around a show that we at large might not have access to and as a result couldn't be part of without TV Tag. So I think we're going to see content collaboration from many sources and then contextual content from the producers of the shows themselves.
So how many TV shows will be supported by TV Tag? Masaki?
We will cover the top 100 shows in the U.S. market at launch.
To me, the interesting part about this is that it's not only based on ratings, but it's going to be based on collectively what Nintendo TVii think is hot, what we think has momentum, and what we think our audience might find interesting.
Yes.
Brad, talk a little bit about the mechanics of "How are we doing this?" How are you doing it, because you're really going to be providing this service in terms of the support to make it happen.
It's magic.
(laughs)
It's more Nintendo magic!
(laughs)
Let me point out that we're not only covering the top 100 shows on launch, but we're covering the pro sports of football and basketball, and NCAA basketball and football as well, so you're literally going to have hundreds of events covered every week with TV Tags.
The moments in TV Tag, while informative, are really like little mini water coolers during the course of the show. So it's just an opportunity now for everyone watching the show to join in the conversation at these different moments. So think of these like little markers on the trail. The marker tells you here's the moment, here's some interesting information, now let's all join in the conversation.
Right. So then, the social element of this, in terms of a marker's been planted representing a key moment for a particular show. Zach, talk a little bit about, then, the social interaction. So how is it brought to bear? What can the consumer expect to see?
They can expect to make a comment and that'll be shared out, based on their settings, to Facebook, Miiverse, and Twitter. They can also emote, and their Mii will reflect this emotion in Miiverse. In addition to engaging socially, viewers can also access information related to moments. The TV Tag curators will tag fun and useful content. And in the future, viewers will be able to contribute their own content as well.
That's cool. One of the things that I was exposed to that, again, for me was really fantastic is the collision between Miiverse and Nintendo TVii in terms of the potential now for communities within Miiverse to show up around particular shows. Masaki, maybe you could touch on that, because again I think until people see it, it's one of these that is tough to understand what that might look like.
Yeah, in the Miiverse application, there's a Nintendo TVii community, and you can see all the posts from our Nintendo TVii users. And within the posts, we use the topic tags for each post so that you can actually select posts that were posted from certain shows. For example, like Modern Family, you can see all the posts that people posted from the Modern Family show in TV Tag. In Miiverse, you can see all those posts, and much, much more.
Yes. So just like how Miiverse is creating a community for gamers to interact and talk about their fun favorite moments around New Super Mario Bros. U, for example, now there is the potential for these Miiverse communities to be around particular TV shows, which again, as a consumer, is magical in terms of finding people like me to engage in a conversation around something I have a lot of enjoyment from.
Just to add something special about Nintendo TViis Miiverse integration: Masaki is describing the experience within the Miiverse application, but of course we know that there are many different layers to Miiverse. What also excites me is how the buzz about TV shows, movies, and sports will be integrated on the WaraWara Plaza. It's a great way to get the buzz about what everyone's talking about regarding what's on TV. Imagine the Super Bowl, when there are over a hundred million viewers and 80 percent of them, historically, have been on a second screen, and everyone's commenting. You'll see all of the buzz not just about the game, but also reactions to TV commercials, and comments about the half-time show. The WaraWara Plaza will not only be a great place to see the buzz on games, but also what's on TV as well.