By all measures, the TV industry has only dipped its toes into the “transmedia” waters — weaving storylines seamlessly across multiple forms of media. But SyFy and partner Trion Worlds are jumping in headfirst with Defiance, a TV show and video game combination that mixes characters and storylines across linear and interactive worlds. If something changes in the TV world, the gaming world adapts — and vice versa.

Read more

Twitter has already played home to some original series, but this afternoon the social network will be adding another first: the first live baseball game streamed through the service. Starting at 2 PM ET, MLB will be streaming the New York Yankees/Washington Nationals game.
Read more

Hear insights from key players in the entertainment and media industries at Lost Remote’s NYC Show on April 24. Leading professionals from ABC News, Bravo, Trendrr, and The Huffington Post have recently been added to the event’s speaking roster. Prices increase at midnight tonight, so register now.

Featured conference sessions include:
Read more

Participant Media, the company behind films such as “Good Night and Good Luck,” “Lincoln” and “The Help,” is launching a new cable TV channel, “Pivot.” The channel will launch in 40 million homes with pay-TV, but in a first will also be available to homes without cable too. users can purchase a subscription straight from the channel and watch it online or on their mobile devices. The Pivot App will allow for both live and on-demand viewing.

Read more

March Madness is now underway, and if you’re following @MarchMadness on Twitter, you’ll discover a steady stream of “real time highlights” from games as they air. Expand one of these tweets, and you’ll see an embedded video player — displayed as a “Twitter card” — that automatically plays a quick pre-roll ad followed by a short highlight from the game. How real-time? As quickly as 20 seconds after it airs.

Read more

To think that a few elections ago there was no Twitter, Facebook, memes or trends the way we know them today is hard to fathom. While the election seems like a distant thought at this point the impact it had on social TV was enormous. Here’s CNN’s recap video on how social TV changed the way they covered the election. Read more

Updated: We’ve been waiting for the outcome of this study for over a year, and now Nielsen — along with its new acquisition Social Guide — have released new data that shows a positive correlation between Twitter volume and TV ratings. In fact, Twitter is one of a small handful of variables tied to moving the ratings needle.

Read more

In a massive story released today, Wired magazine looks at social media and its impact on the TV business. While some of the analysis leaves a bit to be desired (i.e. duplicitous Twitter followers), the bulk of the content is smart, explaining why shows that may be ratings dogs can actually be quite lucrative. There is also a solid description at what exactly Nielsen is and does.
Read more

The worlds of television, videogames and social media will once again collide on the ESPN2 series “SportsNation” today. EA Sports, which produces the “Madden NFL” football game franchise, is looking for an athlete to grace the cover of this year’s game, which happens to be the 25th in the franchise. To help pick the cover-athlete, EA is relying on users voting for their favorite on ESPN.com and on Twitter.

Read more

With last Wednesdays’s announcement that Pope Francis would be succeeding Pope Benedict XVI, the internet went into a frenzy. Pope Benedict XVI will forever have the distinction of being the first Pope to join Twitter. Soon after he stepped down, Benedict’s tweets from @Pontifex were taken down, as the account was transferred to Francis. Today, Francis sent his first tweet. Read more