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"Everyone knows people love to use a \"second screen\" \u2014 be it smartphone, tablet or laptop \u2014 while they watch TV, but no one has created an app or experience that's become the go-to place for interacting with live shows. In short, the second screen doesn't yet have its Facebook.\nZeebox could be it. Debuting today in the U.S., the app has already found a sizeable audience in the U.K. at 1.5 million users since first launching in November. The app's done well in large part due to its partnerships with broadcasters, who can both push their own content to the app and get real-time audience metrics from it. For the U.S. launch, both Comcast's NBC Universal and HBO are on board.\nFor viewers, Zeebox starts as a channel guide, like many other apps. But clicking on a listing calls up that show's page, which offers a way to connect with other fans watching live as well as network-provided content for the show. NBC Universal's executive vice president of strategic integration, Page Thompson, says NBCU has entered into a multi-year partnership with Zeebox, which will include exclusive content as well as on-air promotion of the app.\nBesides a new avenue to engage viewers online, NBCU gets access to Zeebox's metric data, which has successfully predicted ratings victories in the U.K. (so less agonizing about \"overnight\" ratings from Nielsen). It can also update show content within the app very quickly.\n\nSEE ALSO: Shazam Wants To ID Your TV\nIn a similar way that other second-screen apps like IntoNow work, Zeebox also analyzes the broadcast in real time. That means when a particular scene in a show comes up, the app can respond with, say, a prompt to a contest (\"Should Jeff have kissed Britta? Vote for a chance to win an iTunes gift card!\").\nThe U.S. launch of the app also brings with it support for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, filling every pixel on the larger screen. It's also one of the first apps to work with iOS's new Facebook integration, letting you sign in with the Facebook ID you have stored in account settings. You can use Twitter, too.\nWe're a bit skeptical that any app has cracked the code on the second-screen experience yet, but 1.5 million Britons can't all be wrong. And the fact that one of Zeebox's co-founders is the former CTO of the BBC's iPlayer \u2014 one of the best video apps from any content provider \u2014 gives us more confidence.\nHave you used Zeebox? Do you think it has a hope of winning over the U.S. viewing public? Share your impressions in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/09/27/zeebox/>