The mobile content market in Canada is getting hotter by the day, and Shaw Media announced it is extending its reach in the marketplace with the debut of new iPhone and iPod Touch Global Video app.
The Global Video app first launched on iPad in December, offering Global’s online programming portfolio to viewers on-the-go. The concept has now been extended onto even smaller screens with the launch of the new Apple mobile app. Programming available includes everything that is available to viewers on GlobalTV.com, such as House, The Good Wife, NCIS: LA, The Office, Rookie Blue and Survivor.
Ad and sponsorship opps include pre-, mid- and end-roll on video programming, and sponsorship of the app’s three-second splash page, which could take the shape of a full splash screen or a logo, Lyna Sapijonis, manager, digital media, Shaw Media, tells MiC. There are also branding opportunities on the app’s task bar, including an interactive logo that can direct the user to an advertiser’s URL.
The mid- and end-roll can be sold to separate advertisers, Sapijonis says, but the splash screen, task-bar logo and pre-roll are being sold as exclusive to one advertiser.
Mobile is an increasingly critical part of the broadcast landscape – on Friday, rival Bell Media announced a mobile TV package of its own – and Shaw Media is looking to keep ahead of the game as it moves forward, Angus MacDougall, program manager, online projects, tells MiC.
‘There’s been sort of a land grab in the mobile market place, particularly in Canada with the major broadcasters,’ MacDougall says. ‘Citytv beat us to the punch with their iPad app, for an entertainment offering, but we’re the first ones to bring the experience to iPhone and iPod Touch, with our full suite of entertainment and news content from online.’
The app is being promoted to Canadians with a marketing campaign that includes on-air spots on Shaw Media’s conventional and specialty channels, a GlobalTV.com homepage takeover, and run-of-broadcast-site advertising on the Shaw Media websites for three months.
