SOURCE: Watercooler, Inc.

December 09, 2008 08:00 ET

Watercooler Launches TVLoop.com, the Ultimate Online Destination for an Interactive TV Experience

World's Largest Online TV Community Extends Platform Beyond Social Networks to Stand-Alone Site

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - December 9, 2008) -

News Facts:

• With the launch of TVLoop.com, Watercooler extends the largest community of passionate TV fans online from the top social networks to the broader Web. With more than 15 million registered subscribers, the TVLoop™ online community is the first Web site and platform that connects fans of TV shows across the most trafficked areas of the Web anywhere.
• For TV entertainment enthusiasts, Watercooler's TVLoop Web site offers the largest group of online communities for more than 200 popular TV shows. On the TVLoop community, fans can discuss, interact, play social trivia games and share content with more than 15 million other fans across the site and from Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Bebo and hi5. For example, a TVLoop community user on Facebook can comment on an episode of their favorite TV show and users on other social networks or the TVLoop.com Web site will be able to see and respond to the comment directly from their respective site.
• The TVLoop Web site is the only online destination to offer the ultimate TV experience, providing fans with access to all of their favorite shows on one Web site. Beyond allowing users to watch select full episodes and video clips, the TVLoop Web site lets fans get social by discussing their favorite shows and playing social TV games to connect with other passionate fans. On the TVLoop Web site, fans will have access to the following:
• On-Demand Video Content -- The TVLoop community's audiences will have access to new broadcast-quality programming from major networks, including full episodes and clips from some of today's hottest shows such as "The Simpsons," "House," "How I Met Your Mother," "Chuck" and "The Office."
• Social Interaction -- Fans can interact and discuss their favorite shows with like-minded TV fans, compete against other users on TV show-focused trivia games and take quizzes and share results with friends.
• Portable Content Widgets -- With the launch of portable widgets on the TVLoop Web site, fans can take their community experience with them and add the TVLoop community's features to their own blog, fan site or social network. The TVLoop Web site's trivia games and quizzes include millions of questions and the widgets allow blogs and fan sites to further engage readers with relevant interactive content, including:
• Quotes/Quote of the Day
• Next Episode Counters
• Quiz Results/Quizzes
• Entertainment Shopping -- Through a partnership with SeenON!, a division of Delivery Agent, the TVLoop community's consumers can access SeenON! product information and shop for items from apparel to house wares to show-branded merchandise from their favorite TV shows.
• The Internet is inundated with TV-focused Web sites, ranging from portals that only push professional TV content to users to highly fragmented individual fan sites and show-specific communities. Consumers have multiple favorite shows and want a single place to interact with like-minded fans. The TVLoop Web site seeks to bridge that gap by creating what the market is missing: an online destination site for all things TV that fulfills fans' cravings and eliminates the need to visit multiple sites.
• With 30 million users across its fan community applications, Watercooler provides the most extensive network of online fan communities around sports and TV entertainment within the top social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Bebo, and hi5.

LINKS:
Watercooler Corporate Web site: http://www.watercooler-inc.com
The TVLoop Web site: http://www.tvloop.com
The TVLoop Blog: http://blog.tvloop.com
The TVLoop Network on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tvloop

Quotes, attributable to Watercooler executives:

• "Over the past two years we've built a community of 30 million sports and TV fans on social networking platforms, and given the success of that model we wanted to explore new audiences by launching the TVLoop Web site as a stand-alone destination site," said Kevin Chou, CEO of Watercooler. "There is a separate demographic of consumers not on social networks that want easy access to their favorite TV show content, and we're giving those users an outlet for their interest with the new site."
• "Based on our large user base of TV fans on social networking platforms it's clear that people love to spend time socializing around their favorite TV shows. With the launch of the TVLoop Web site we aim to connect the social networking generation with other consumers that want a different avenue for being social online," said Justin Smith, head of product for Watercooler. "The TVLoop Web site will allow consumers not on social networks to interact with the millions of fans already using the TVLoop applications, giving them new opportunities to engage with the shows they're passionate about and enhancing their TV watching experience."