5 TV Apps You May Not Know

Can’t keep track of the variety of TV apps out there? Join the club. As consumers increasingly turn to second screens, a host of companies have lined up their products and services to whet viewers’ appetites. You are probably already familiar with Shazam, Viggle and GetGlue, but there are some hidden gems on the market as well. Here are 5 apps that you may not have heard of.

WatchWith

The startup provides sync-to-broadcast service to multiplatform service providers. It allows broadcasters to offer services like trivia questions and other information relevant to TV content being viewed via mobile devices or the TV screen. The company recently closed a $5 million funding round from Rogers Ventures, Arris and Gracenote.

Peel

Peel has been around for a while. But after some updates, the app now combines intuitive program discovery, remote control and social sharing capabilities. After inking a deal with Samsung to include the app on devices like the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus, the companies are working to expand the use of the app internationally and on more devices.
 
Miso

Social TV startup Miso has kept itself busy. Starting out as a TV check-in app, Miso then launched a service that allows viewers to create and browse guides to TV episodes. It recently launched mobile app Quips, which lets viewers share individual moments from their favorite TV shows with friends. The app also lets you send snapshots from TV shows to friends.

Dijit’s NextGuide

NextGuide is Dijit Media’s latest app. The personalized TV listings guide lets viewers create a category for just about anything—from their favorite actor to their hometown to their favorite sports team—in addition to more typical genres. The app sends out alerts when viewers’ favorite TV show, actors, bands, teams or sports events are on TV. Dijit acquired Miso earlier this year.

Kwarter

Kwarter is unique in that instead of providing apps and services, it has an open-source platform that programmers and their partners can use to integrate with their existing campaigns and platforms. Initially, the Kwarter platform was targeting sports content with games, polls and messaging. According to the company, its “modular approach to development lets you add or delete features over time,” which makes responding to user requests easier and quicker. The young company recently received an additional $4 million in funding from investors, including Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T-Venture, bringing the total money raised to $5 million.