HBO is planning a 15-minute live pre-show in advance of the season six premiere of “True Blood,” fueled by social media. The 15-minute program “#TrueBlood: Live from Set” will feature the cast answering questions from fans. It will also feature some of the show’s top fans through a partnership with Twitter and Mass Relevance. In a statement, HBO credits the show’s social fanbase as a key component to its success:

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GetGlue, the social TV startup is speeding up their roadmap to monetization. They recently completed a big campaign with YouTube and have now announced a new EVP of Sales to take their paid partnerships to the next level. Shelby Huston Haro, the former head of enterprise sales at Flixster & Fandango has joined their team. Read more

It’s accepted knowledge that digital is upending traditional media. But sometimes, that’s just not the case. In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do?, Entertainment Weekly managing editor Jess Cagle tells how social TV has been a boon to his mag’s print sales:

“There is tremendous engagement around television… I will very often look at the social media surrounding of a particular show and make the [cover story] decision based on that,” Cagle explained, pointing toVampire Diaries as an example. “We thought there is so much social media going on around the show, and it went crazy.  Ian Somerhalder tweeted it out to his legion of followers, and that actually translated into print sales.”

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Jess Cagle, Managing Editor of Entertainment Weekly?

– Mona Zhang

With the TV upfronts come announcements of cancellations as networks set their schedules for the fall. As social TV grows it becomes easier and easier to understand how fans feel about these decisions they usually have no control over. Social media analytics company Crimson Hexagon provided Lost Remote with social analysis on both of these shows. Here are the details. Read more

Exclusive: The CW is planning to rebrand its digital studio CWD as “CW Seed,” evolving it into a digital destination for loyal CW fans. The network will announce CW Seed at its upfront presentation in New York today. CW Seed will exist as a sub-site on CWTV.com, and will still produce original programming, but the channel is adding more interactivity to the service, opening up for feedback from viewers and adding more social engagement.

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Turner Broadcasting channels TNT and TBS held its upfront presentations today at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, and while the bulk of the show was about new programming, the impact of social and digital media permeated the presentation. The big news was that TBS and TNT will begin streaming their linear channels online starting this Summer. It is a real network feed, including MLB and NCAA games… and of course including the same ad loads as on TV.

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On April 25th The CW aired a backdoor pilot of “The Originals,” a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries. Did feedback from Twitter help the network make it’s decision to pick up the show the next day? According to sentiment analysis from Fizziology, the pilot received 81% positive sentiment, with 20% of conversations saying they’d watch it. Read more

The Following, Fox’s new thriller starring Kevin Bacon has taken an extremely unique approach to leveraging social TV. It has built a strong social TV following (pun intended) that plays up the name and themes of the show across one of the fastest growing social platforms, Tumblr. We interviewed  Robin Benty Fox’s senior director of current programming and digital scripted brands about the show’s social TV strategy. Read more

To promote Oxygen’s new reality matchmaking show, “Find Me My Man,” the network’s social agency of record, 360i, produced an 11-minute long webisode  featuring some familiar faces from Season 10 of “Bad Girls Club.” According to Jane Olson, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Brand Strategy for Oxygen Media, one of main reasons for creating the webisode was “to make sure those viewers knew this show was for them. We ideated around a cross-over format that baked in ‘Bad Girls Club’ talent to recruit our core Oxygen fan base and rally around this new franchise.” Read more

USA Network is launching a new social platform called “My Moment,” tied to the launch of its new reality series “The Moment.” While the TV show follows nine people as they get a second chance to pursue their dream career, the social campaign will help viewers follow through on their own dreams.

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