Magic Ruby Featured in San Fernando Valley Business Journal

Magic Ruby is in an article on p.15 of this week’s issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. The article cites Magic Ruby’s Technicolor heritage, our experience with synchronized commerce on the Sons of Anarchy app, and our company focus on infrastructure and the new directions that technology will allow us to pursue in the Second Screen space.

An excerpt:

There are a lot of tech companies flooding the second screen marketplace, but Burbank startup Magic Ruby thinks the industry has room to grow.

Now the company is gearing up for a broader launch of its product, and scored a big client to coincide with the marketing campaign. DirecTV Holdings LLC chose Magic Ruby for the second screen application of its first foray into original programming.

“With that one, they didn’t even have an e-commerce play,” said [CEO Tom] Engdahl. “So, we went out and brought it to them.”

The full article is available in the current print edition, and online here, viewable in Adobe flash. The article is on page 15.

Magic Ruby Featured in The Online Reporter

Magic Ruby is featured on the first four pages of this week’s Online Reporter (Issue #825). In the article, Head of Marketing Stephen Brooks discusses the Rogue: Second Screen Experience app, capturing the audience’s attention, and the power of the second screen to keep viewers engaged with the program.

An excerpt:

  • The synced second screen app serves another purpose among distracted viewers. It’s also way to reign in multi-tasking eyeballs that may be tempted to stray from the first screen during plot lulls.
  • “You have to keep in mind…that the connected viewer is already in a state of distraction,” Brooks said. “They’re no longer in that lean back state when they’re watching TV.”
  • Synced content events on the second screen can serve to keep a distracted viewer engaged with the show, even if he or she is not completely engaged with the first screen. “We’re able to create a vertical walled garden, where we give just enough content to either absorb or interact with the viewer, without disrupting from the main screen, and without allowing the viewer to go down a rabbit hole, and start searching for content that is unrelated [to] what’s going on in the main screen.”

The Online Reporter is available by subscription only. You can visit here to subscribe. Trial subscriptions are available free for four weeks.

Magic Ruby in Home Media Magazine

Magic Ruby is featured in an article about Second Screen applications in Home Media Magazine. The article is written by Chris Tribbey, who also wrote this long-form piece in the magazine last month on Second Screen.

This article, which can also be found here, is a short piece about our apps for Rogue and The Deep:

Magic Ruby Develops Second-Screen Apps

4 Apr, 2013

By: Chris Tribbey

Second-screen production company Magic Ruby is developing two new applications, one for DirecTV’s “Rogue,” another for Technicolor’s “The Deep.”

For the April 3 release of its exclusive cop drama series “Rogue,” DirecTV had Magic Ruby create a second-screen app that synchronizes with the show live, offering cast and crew information, maps, trivia, bonus videos and social media integration.

For the Technicolor-produced CGI animated action series “The Deep,” Magic Ruby is working on a second-screen application that synchs with the show in real time, offering games, trivia, bonus content and e-commerce options.

“The Deep” is set to premiere in late 2014.

“The response from potential broadcast partners to the demo of the second-screen app for ‘The Deep’ has been tremendous, and it has proven to be an extremely valuable marketing tool for the series,” said Steven Wendland, VP of Technicolor Digital Productions. “Magic Ruby clearly understands our vision for the series, and we are excited to work with them to further develop this unique experience, which will allow fans to engage more deeply with the brand, both during the broadcast and in-between episodes.”

Magic Ruby CEO Tom Engdahl added: “We believe this highly creative and engaging series is the perfect vehicle for Magic Ruby to demonstrate the power, elegance and effectiveness of the second screen in immersing audiences of all ages more deeply into the story and brand.”

Magic Ruby’s ROGUE Second Screen App in Lost Remote

Lost Remote, the blog of record for the Social TV industry, published a post about the new ROGUE: SECOND SCREEN EXPERIENCE app that syncs with the new DirecTV series.

Excepted below:

  • Built by Magic Ruby — which also built the Sons of Anarchy app — the Rogue second screen companion syncs with the show to provide expanded content like background info, cast bios, insights from writers and producers, trivia and extra video clips. Viewers can also authenticate their Facebook or Twitter accounts to comment from the app.

 

Read the rest of the article here.

You can download the app here.

Magic Ruby Second Screen Companion App Rogue in AdOps Online

As you know, we recently announced the publication of our new app Rogue: The Second Screen Experience that syncs with the DirecTV Audience original series, “Rogue,” premiering April 3. You can read the writeup in AdOps online here and below:

 

Magic Ruby Powers Second Screen Experience for DirecTV Audience’s New Original Drama Series, ‘Rogue’

The Rogue second screen companion app is available for free download from the Apple App store on 29 March

Magic Ruby, the leader in delivering monetizable content and immersive applications for the second screen, has created a second screen companion application for the Audience original series, Rogue, starring Thandie Newton and Marton Csokas.

 

The series will premier Wednesday, April 3, 9pm ET/PT on DIRECTV channel 239. The application will create a synchronized, immersive experience for viewers of the show, with exclusive content including cast and location information, trivia, bonus video and more. The app also includes social media integration allowing viewers to comment directly from the app in real time on Twitter and Facebook.

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