Checking In: Social TV Companies Viggle and GetGlue Announce Merger
By Rob Scott
November 20, 2012
November 20, 2012
- Rewards-based social TV service Viggle announced it will acquire GetGlue for $25 million in cash and 48.3 million shares of stock. Under the terms of the deal, Viggle will operate both brands.
- GetGlue is “a social network based on check-ins for entertainment,” reports CNET. Its founder and CEO Alex Iskold will join Viggle as a senior exec and member of its board of directors. All 35 GetGlue employees will be part of the new company.
- Launched in January 2012, Viggle rewards users for checking into TV shows by offering them points that can be used for gift cards and products from the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, Fandango, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
- “GetGlue, an app that operates like Foursquare for entertainment, gives users virtual stickers for checking in while watching shows or movies,” explains CNET. “Those virtual stickers are then turned into real-life ones and mailed to users for their collection.”
- The company was launched in 2007 and currently claims over 3.2 million registered users and more than 500 million entertainment ratings and check-ins.
- “Viggle is raising the funds to buy GetGlue with investments from other companies that would like to see the two unite,” explains the article. Greg Consiglio, Viggle president and COO, says the investors “could be a media company, or could be somebody in the media strategic space, someone with hardware you might use to check in with.”
- Current GetGlue media partners include ABC, Comedy Central, Fox, HBO, NBC, Showtime, USA Network and Warner Bros. Television. Viggle has a number of ad partners and relationships with Verizon and DirecTV.
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