
Apply HN: Comment on on-demand TV as if everyone is watching at the same time - stefanwild
https://spoilr.tv/
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buss
I've heard of various media companies attempting this for at least the past 10
years; has something changed recently that makes now the right time for this
to work? (This wouldn't be the first time cultural and technology changes led
to the success of an idea that has failed before)

Do you know why the previous attempts failed to catch on? How will you avoid
those problems?

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stefanwild
The examples that I looked at were all aimed at live broadcast and then just
stop making sense (e.g. AMC storysync). The statistics I have looked at for
Game of Thrones show, within a week of the first airing < 25% of the views are
live, the rest is already some form of delayed watching (DVR, re-run, on-
demand).

I am confident that the trend away from broadcast towards on-demand is working
in our favor.

Not sure if the attempts are comparable and if the same problems apply.
Finding the integration (or other route) that helps generate enough traction
is one of the top tasks on the business side of this.

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Matt3o12_
This seems actually kind of cool. I've always enjoyed reading Twitter during
popular keynotes, but it would be super cool to see what other people think
during my favorite tv show. Have you planned to do a Twitter like rating (show
popular comments + a few new random ones).

How are you planning on syncing this with Netflix, Amazon, and co? You could
have a start button in your app but I doubt this would really work out well
because some shows have different lengths on different platforms (some add a
longer intro, others filter some content) and I often like to pause the TV
show, which would make it out of sync unless I also pause the app.

~~~
stefanwild
There's up- and downvoting and we use that to rate-limit comments that are
being displayed as you go. Downvoted comments (like spoilers) get filtered out
quickly, upvoted (or new) comments make it through the rate-limit. We're using
a modified version of reddit's published scoring system.

Syncing is the single biggest technical issue and currently not easy since
most platforms don't allow access to the point where we could really time-
sync. Still looking at a few options, though.

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stefanwild
Project had been in hibernation mode since this HN thread, which already has
some interesting discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7711961](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7711961)

For examples with some activity, check out House of Cards Season 2 or Game of
Thrones Season 4.

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nojvek
I'd love to see a demo of this when the next game of thrones is on.

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PM_NAKED_PIKS
Derivative. Do people actually want this? How are you going to monetize?

~~~
stefanwild
There definitely is some interest. I'm hoping, HN is also going to be an
indication whether people want this.

Monetization can happen through partnerships with content creators/publishers
(even white label solutions), timed advertising or affiliate links (think "I
love the dress Claire is wearing – here's the link" or "Meet 'The Mountain' at
ComicCon – link").

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wehadfun
No one can respond to your comments while you are actually watching the show.
This would be a feature that Netflix/hulu/amazon would have to add.

~~~
stefanwild
They can, if they're watching at the same time. When testing, we did find
ourselves checking back what other people's reaction was later on. App still
needs notifications for this. Netflix/hulu/amazon are definitely interesting
for partnerships/integration.

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kumarski
Isn't this what blab.im is doing?

What differentiates this from that?

~~~
stefanwild
spoilr.tv is to something like that, but asynchronously. Your buddy is a week
behind on Game of Thrones, but still sees your comments on the last episode,
time-synced with his watching it (and you're going to be notified if he/she
responds to them).

