Tech Report: New App Pays People To Watch TV Shows

(KCBS) – A free new app, Viggle, is paying people to watch their favorite television shows.

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid said he's not sure how effective it will actually be.

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid:

"The concept is that if you watch television, your iPhone or your Android phone has a microphone in it and it has software that recognizes the name of the program," said Magid. "You listen, you hold the phone up to the speaker. It listens and determines what's being watched. Based on that, it issues you points."

But Magid said the points don't seem to be worth the amount you have to watch.

"We figured out that it would take 62 hours of watching TV to get a $5 gift card from Starbucks," he said. "My problem with it is that I'm going to watch the TV shows because I want to watch them. But they think they're going to get people to look at ads and look at ads on their mobile phones."

Magid said that this just adds to new ways of viewing programs online, as companies can measure exactly how many people are watching and who is watching and deliver targeted advertising, something that is impossible in the broadcast television model.

You can hear Larry Magid's Tech Report Monday through Friday at 3:50pm on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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