As Portlandia continues to dominate social TV and Virgin America continues to redefine what’s possible when it comes to in-flight entertainment, it was only natural that the two join forces. To promote Virgin America’s new daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and San Francisco to Portland, Virgin and Portlandia partnered for airport tarmac event, Facebook competition, a sweepstakes that awarded one winner a walk-on role in the current season of Portlandia, and an in-show integration in this past week’s (February 8, 2013, “Soft Opening”) episode. Read more

Chances are, if you’ve enjoyed you in-flight experience of late it had something to do with Massive Interactive. The company provides the in-flight entertainment systems for Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, and Qantas. According to chief creative officer Derek Ellis, “social integration through the seatback solution is possible, however passengers often prefer to engage in such activity on their own devices.” Ellis sees real opportunity, though, with the second screens that are part of the handsets, which allow texting and checking flight info.  Read more