While the majority of successful social TV offerings have so far come from the USA, where the topic has been hotly debated for some time, Zurich-based start-up Filmwords is now launching an app geared towards the local TV market, as detailed in a press release. Zwap TV is a second screen app that is typically used at home on the sofa while the TV set - the first screen - is on.

The app is first and foremost a social TV guide: you follow people - be they actual friends or simply users with interesting TV tastes - and get to know new programs and people. If you feel like it, you can chat with others during a program. In the TV academy, you can collect points and progress from student to professor - what the points are good for is revealed during the course of use. Zwap TV has no intention of becoming a TV stream provider itself. If the user wants to make the second screen the first screen, they can switch to Teleboy, for example, and continue to use familiar social TV services and the same community seamlessly.

Thanks to its collaboration with third-party providers - Teleboy is the first in a series of partners - Zwap TV connects TV viewers from different platforms. This is one of the advantages over other social TV offerings. The app is to be expanded in rapid steps, with at least one new feature promised per month. Zwap.TV is now available free of charge for the iPhone in the App Store apps for iPad and Android will be available shortly.
 

The fact that the company, which was founded last year, was able to win Bratschi for its ambitious project is a stroke of luck for CEO Martin Glauser, according to the statement. "Raphael Bratschi brings a large network of agencies and direct customers, but also profound experience in the conceptual field. This is very valuable, especially in the start-up phase."

Raphael Bratschi has been working in marketing since 2002. Initially, he looked after clients at Goldbach Media TV; later he was Key Account Manager at APG and at 20 Minuten. Since 2010, he has been a board member of IAA Swiss Young Professionals. At Filmwords, he will be responsible for key account management, product development and, in particular, for setting up the TV Adtracks marketing platform.

Bratschi is looking forward to the new challenges: "With social TV, we are breaking new ground. Marketing is being reinvented in the border area of TV, digital and social media. The potential is enormous. Here, Filmwords' cross-platform system offers a very exciting solution that has a very good chance of establishing itself, especially in Switzerland, but also internationally."

Filmwords' social TV solution is already available to TV consumers on the Teleboy platform. Filmwords will also launch the second screen app Zwap.TV in the coming weeks. Three more platforms will be added to the Filmwords network over the course of the year. According to its own statements, Filmwords is thus realizing the world's first cross-platform social TV community, in which users of different services can exchange ideas while watching TV.