Last night, TVGuide.com released a major overhaul of its iOS app—and it's a vast improvement over the old television companion.
The new TV Guide app is much more elegant and interactive than the first generation of the app, which felt similar to the old two-dimensional listings found both on the web and in print.
Last Thursday, we went over to TV Guide headquarters in NYC where we received a live demo of the new app from TVGuide.com General Manager, Christy Tanner.
According to Tanner, a team of 66 people have spent the last nine months perfecting the upgrade, the last time there was an update to the old app.
The new app builds much upon its predecessors, integrating a popular feature from its website, the Watchlist, which allows users to mark favorite television shows, celebrities, and actors, and has a more thorough and aesthetically pleasing "Classic Listings," that allows users to see what's on tonight.
The real take away of the refurbished listings app is a feature that will give instant television viewing options, one Tanner says will make the app the future of TVGuide.com.
"You'd have to go to like five different apps to get all of this," says Tanner. "This app is truly one stop."
See a rundown of the "future of TVGuide" >
Tanner may be right there, considering no other listings app gives users a seamless app-to-app links experience. Zap 2 It's What's On app has a nice, easy to navigate listings display. BuddyTV comes up a close second with similar functionality, allowing users to mark favorite shows, but also has the unique ability to remove channels you never watch from the listings.
TV Guide's current edge is with the app-to-app links.
The first version of the app had seven million installations across IOS and Android, with a million and a half active users, a number Tanner expects to rise considering TV Guide spent zero ad dollars to promote its predecessor.
"Believe it or not, we've never spent a dime on advertising," says Tanner. "We wanted the second generation experience to be here before we put giant ads on our website saying, 'Get our app.'"
Tanner says TVGuide.com used nothing but a small corner at the top of its website in minuscule font to promote its original app. She attributes its current 7 million IOS and Android users to organic search and word of mouth.
The TVGuide.com team put in a lot of time and research hoping it will become user's one stop shop for entertainment.
The bulk of its efforts have been placed into instant video access through app-to-app links, allowing TV Guide to make use of other video apps on user devices.
One search through the app's video tab will tell users the different outlets where they can instantly view one show, though the sources for this feature are limited.
Currently, the TV Guide app has eight app-to-app sources for launch: ABC, ABC Family, CW, Crackle, HBO Go, Cinemax Go, Hulu+, and iTunes. In the coming weeks, Tanner expects that number to increase ten-fold as they have a queue of nearly two dozen more sources ready to go.
"We spent the last few years thinking about what the future of this business is, what's the consumer problem we're best positioned to solve?" said Tanner. "The world of entertainment is chaos, and we're here to make it simple for you. That's what this product does."
For now, iPhone and iPad iOS users can reap the benefits of the app. The Android version of the app will be next to get an entire overhaul.
Upside: Fresh and updated slick look to the app. It's easy to navigate, and tells you immediately what shows are live and new.
Comcast users will feel right at home with the guide.
Downside: The app doesn't turn with the iPad / iPhone / iTouch.*
*Note: We've since found the app does indeed turn. We're unsure if the former was a simple malfunction; however, it's worth noting in case it has occurred for anyone else.
Upside: You can plug all of your favorite shows into an easy-to-maintain Watchlist.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider