AT&T, BabyFirst create second screen app for babies

ABC renews ‘Dancing with the Stars’

NEW YORK, May 11, (RTRS): AT&T and BabyFirst have created an app for babies to use while watching BabyFirst’s TV channel, betting kids are eager to engage with their TV on multiple screens. The app enables parents and kids to create art on their iPads and transposes that art over the show on TV. Parents can also replace the app’s logo with a photo of their kid.

Second screen apps were once all the rage, as companies like GetGlue, IntoNow and Viggle promised to change the way people watch television. These apps offered information about whatever show you watched, extending the TV experience onto the smartphone or tablet in your hand. The impact was limited. “The big problem we see with second screen apps for adults is you’re making the assumption that someone watching a specific show wants to communicate with the show” on a mobile device,” BabyFirst cofounder Sharon Rechter told TheWrap. “They are actually doing different things — Facebook, emails.”

Rechter believes this app will succeed where other second screen apps have not because kids are not “more engaged at doing one thing at a time.” Experience “We are the first to ever address such a young audience, enhancing a kid’s experience,” Rechter said.

BabyFirst already operates a TV channel available in 40 million homes, reaching customers of Comcast, DirecTV, Dish and AT&T. According to research from Kantar Media, one out of every three moms with a kid under the age of three watches the channel.

Rechter believes the company will soon be in 50 million homes, and though this app is only for those with AT&T, BabyFirst is in talks with other cable operators about bringing the app to their service.

“Our programming is not ‘Game of Thrones’; it is very simple and slow,” Rechter said. “We are not interrupting a child’s viewing; we are letting people get immediate gratification for interacting with it on a second screen. If there’s a chance of second screen working well, that’s where it is.”

“Dancing With the Stars” isn’t on its last legs by a long shot.

ABC has renewed its hit dancing competition series for a 19th season, the network has said.

The renewal is hardly surprising; the series draws a substantial viewership, even if its performance in the 18-49 demographic most sought by viewers isn’t quite as impressive.

To date, the current season of “Dancing With the Stars” is averaging 15.8 million total viewers, a 2 percent increase over last season at this stage, and is the most-watched show in its Mondays from 8 to 10 p.m. time slot. (The show is currently the fourth most-watched program on television, and the most-watched unscripted series overall.)

In the 18-49 demographic, the current season is averaging a 2.5 rating/7 share, a 4 percent dip compared to last season at the same

point.

ESPN definitely picked a winner with the NFL Draft.

The telecast of the first round of the NFL draft on lasst week set a record as the most-watched NFL Draft telecast in the 35 years that ESPN has presented the event.

The telecast averaged just shy of 10 million viewers, and drew a 6..1 US rating based on preliminary numbers.

That represents a 49 percent surge over last year’s rating, and a 60 percent jump in total viewership over the previous year.

Ratings for the draft round peaked between 9:45 and 10 pm.ET, when the Dallas Cowboys picked at No. 16, choosing Zack Martin, with Johnny Manziel still available. (The Cleveland Browns eventually chose Manziel.) Top 10 metered markets for the NFL draft round included Cleveland, with a 13.0 rating, Houston with an 11.6, and Auston with an 11.3.

“The Neighbors” has been evicted from ABC. At least, according to multiple cast members, it has been.

The series, which centers on a family that moves to a gated community and discovers that their new neighborhood is populated by space aliens, has been given the ax by the network, cast member Toks Olagundoye tweeted last Friday.

Tweeps, I have known since last night, but was not able to share the news until it was announced publicly. “TheNeighbirs has been cancelled.”