We're back, y'all! Team SnapStream just wrapped from exhibiting at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas.

NAB Highlights

Our booth was awesome this year!

We got to meet with hundreds of folks in the television and entertainment space, plus government and education, too. Everyone was digging our new social TV features for sharing TV moments to Twitter and Facebook. We had some beta features on display, exclusively for the NAB crowd, including time-coded tags and the new transcript word cloud.

But the best part, hands down, was showing new people what SnapStream can do and watching their eyes light up! When you demonstrate how easy it is to schedule recordings in our program guide, search by keyword and pull up a clip, people are amazed. Our established workflow solves a very real problem for organizations out there, who are still using DVRs or don't have an existing or easy way to manage television.

We're excited to help more people overcome their TV recording challenges, and provide all the right tools for efficiently tracking and monitoring TV.

#WalkingGIF

As soon as you walked up to SnapStream's booth, you were immediately greeted by a smiling and waving shark. The one and only #LeftShark, as seen on TV... and Twitter!

Many people hadn't seen a real, live GIF in person before.

Let alone, a GIF that walks and talks!

The #WalkingGIF made waves around the Las Vegas Convention Center, and made friends with everyone he met.

If you tweeted a photo, video or GIF with the #WalkingGIF, you could enter our contest to win a free Apple Watch. How could you win? Well, you had to get the most engagement on Twitter (highest total of retweets + favorites.)

Check out our blog post about the #WalkingGIF contest to see some of the wacky photos and to find out who won!

All in all, our 9th NAB Show was a huge success. We were inspired to meet new people we can help, and there's nothing we love more than continuing relationships with our amazing customers. See you next year for our 10th anniversary!

Social media + TV go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Don’t believe us? Check out this Twitter Media Blog detailing stats from the recent social media storm caused by the Syfy Network’s “Sharknado 2: The Second One.”

The newly released SnapStream 6.4 makes it easy to engage with your fans/viewers through social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. It's so quick to post images, TV clips and animated GIFs, because you can "do it yourself," without help from video production or anyone else.

Tweets and TV, Side by Side

Inside SnapStream, for the first time, you can watch the broadcast of any TV show AND what viewers are live-tweeting about it, side by side, in one window through our "Tweets Tab."

Tweets are automatically categorized so our "Tweets Tab" automatically works for 200+ US channels. Just pull up a national TV show and you'll see tweets about that show, from the Twitter firehose, displayed side by side with the show itself.

And to make it easy to find the right TV moment, you can click on any tweet to "snap" to that moment in the broadcast. From there you can reply to an individual tweet with a TV screenshot, animated GIF or video clip.

With our "Tweets Tab," you can engage people watching your TV show with unprecedented efficiency -- there isn't a better way to "engage your follower's followers."

And live-tweeting does wonders to boost follower growth and to build a strong social audience for your TV show, according to a recent Twitter study.

Share TV Clips, Screenshots and Animated GIFs to Your Social Media Audience

Here's how SnapStream can help your TV show maximize engagement on Twitter and Facebook for every minute of your broadcast, to boost viewership and Nielsen Social TV Ratings.

Tweet and Reply on Twitter

Did you know that simply adding an image to your tweet can double your engagement rate? SnapStream 6.4 gives you a quick, seamless tool for replying to tweets with embedded TV clips, images or animated GIFs.

This allows you to engage your viewers and fans in a one-to-one fashion, in real time, with the actual TV moments they're talking about. Tweet, rinse and repeat to amplify 100s of engagements into 1000s.

The clips you create for Twitter are stored in SnapStream’s cloud forever (no limits on storage!) and the images and animated GIFs are stored directly on Twitter.

Create viral buzz with memes! SnapStream 6.4 allows you to overlay text onto any TV screenshot, so you can add a meme-like photo caption or a message to drive more followers.

We support multiple Twitter accounts per user and users can easily and securely add their own accounts without the need for an administrator to be involved.

Post Directly to Facebook

Ensure viewers will come back for more by capitalizing on your content’s ability to keep viewers hooked between episodes. SnapStream 6.4 allows you to compose Facebook posts directly inside of SnapStream that contain screenshot images or even TV clips directly from the show.

With all the content you'll be posting, you might be curious where those videos and images will be stored. All media content is natively embedded and hosted on Facebook.

With SnapStream 6.4, you can publish content directly to your Facebook Page. Are you managing multiple Facebook pages? SnapStream supports multiple Facebook accounts, so you can securely manage all of your Facebook Pages from a single SnapStream log-in.

Create and Share Animated GIFs

GIFs are at the heart of many Internet memes and viral phenomenon. SnapStream makes it easy to create and share animated GIFs on the Web and to social sites like Twitter and Tumblr. It’s one of SnapStream’s essential tools for repurposing your show’s content and engaging fans online.

SnapStream 6.4 makes it easy to adjust frame rate and speed so you can highlight those awesome sports moments (or bloopers) with slow motion. In this case, we had fun speeding up this SNL clip with Kristen Wiig, Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake!

Ready to see SnapStream 6.4 in action?

Webinar: Boost Social TV Ratings with SnapStream

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 18 at 3 p.m. EST / Noon PST

For: TV Shows and Broadcasters

Webinar: Share TV to Twitter and Facebook

Date: Wednesday, November 19

Pick a Time: Noon EST / 9 a.m. PST or 3 p.m. EST /noon PST

For: All Organizations

How can I upgrade to 6.4?

For current customers: To schedule your free upgrade* to 6.4, contact SnapStream’s support team via the Enterprise Support Form or via email at support@snapstream.com.

For new users: Contact one of our Sales Engineers to start the conversation about your TV monitoring needs. Email: sales@snapstream.com. Phone: 1-877-762-7787

*All software upgrades are free for current SnapStream customers who have a valid support contract and meet the hardware pre-requisites.

HOUSTON, TX — On Tuesday, June 17, the hosts of morning radio show "The Roula and Ryan Show," on 104.1 KRBE, started up a fun conversation about late night TV. You see, the night before, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" aired its newest rap remix featuring NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

If you haven't seen it yet, you seriously need to watch Brian Williams rap "Baby Got Back," which has racked up more than 3.8 million views on YouTube and counting. All of these Brian Williams raps have gone extremely viral, because they're just plain hilarious, with "Rapper's Delight" topping them all with 11.9 million views. Whoa baby.

So, back to the radio show: SnapStream was surprisingly brought up in this context and we thought, "Cool, they're talking about us on the radio!" Our TV search and clipping technology is known as "the secret weapon" to creating satirical clip montages at "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "The Soup," and "The Colbert Report."

While "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" is not a SnapStream customer (yet), they totally should be! They could crank out these Brian Williams raps at a furious pace if they were using our ridiculously fast TV search. Just sayin'.

Take a listen! (SnapStream's mentioned around 2:15 in the clip.)

And thanks again to the team at "The Roula and Ryan Show" for the amazing shout-out on the air, in our shared hometown of Houston!

First and foremost, let me start by saying, “Welcome to the family “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver, and the entire team of producers, editors, and show writers!”

In case you haven’t heard, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” selected SnapStream’s TV recording and search technology to help build the TV clips and content that will be used on the show. (Here is the press release)

Need an example? Next time you tune in (the show airs every Sunday on HBO) watch for the pop-up TV clips that John Oliver references throughout the show. Those clips are pulled using SnapStream!

How They Use SnapStream

With SnapStream’s technology, the team at “Last Week Tonight” is able to quickly search and aggregate mass amounts of current, often obscure, TV content from worldwide sources. This technology, along with John Oliver’s undeniable genius for political satire, is the perfect equation for comedic gold.

Just ask Ari Fishman, a producer at “Last Week Tonight” who said,

“SnapStream has proven itself to be the premiere product for high-volume television recording and search capabilities.

We are hoping to achieve an extensive SnapStream footage archive that we can effectively use as our primary research tool. SnapStream keyword searches makes it a very organized user experience, and we anticipate growing our SnapStream library. All of our producers [are] confident in SnapStream’s capabilities.”

A Favorite Among Many Shows and Networks

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” is not alone in their hunt for an efficient way to find and repurpose specific TV content. They join a host of successful shows and networks including “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report,” “E! News” and “The Arsenio Hall Show,” to name a few. All of these shows, and many more, use SnapStream’s clipping, content repurposing, and archival for their shows.

In fact, SnapStream is known throughout the broadcast and network industries for its ability to quickly research interesting commentary, news trends, and comparative talking points.

Here is what some of our current clients have said recently:

“It would be impossible to generate the amount of content our show requires without a [technology] like SnapStream. The immediacy with which we can research and distribute video has been invaluable to our creative process." - The Colbert Report

“Night in and night out, SnapStream helps us create the freshest monologues in late night.” - The Arsenio Hall Show

“SnapStream is a single solution for creating and packaging aired content for distribution to advertisers.” - MLB Network

So next time you tune into “Last Week Tonight”, or any of the other shows mentioned, wow your friends and family by letting them in on the secret behind those TV clip pop-ups - SnapStream’s TV search technology.

Next week, we're heading to the Big Apple to showcase our TV monitoring technology at Content and Communications World (CCW). Many broadcast folks refer to this hallmark event as the NAB of the East Coast. Since NAB in April, SnapStream's engineers have been diligently working to launch SnapStream 6.0 and tons of new capabilities.

Whether you're a current user or considering SnapStream for the first time, you'll find that everything in the new version helps to enrich your production workflow for recording, searching, clipping and repurposing TV content.

What's new to see at CCW?

AirPlay, search, clip and share TV from your iPad
Collaborate using SnapStream's iPad app during your production meetings. Use AirPlay to display TV recordings and clips from your library in H.264. You can also run searches, create clips and share them in the cloud. Enjoy all of these features on the go, with the mobility and convenience of the iPad.

View multiple channels simultaneously
SnapStream's new multi-viewer enables you to watch up to four content streams simultaneously for a multitude of workflow applications, such as comparing what's airing on your competitors' channels at the same time.

Watch TV and read the transcript, side by side
Monitor the broadcast video and televised transcript in a new interactive way, using Snapstream's new auto-scrolling transcript. Click on any keyword in the text to jump to it. Skip from one keyword mention to the next. Resize the windows to switch your focus from reading to watching, or keep it right at 50/50.

Monitor TV live and fullscreen
Enjoy the ability to track live, real-time events and freely flip between channels without recording anything to disk. Use the new fullscreen option to expand the video display for presentations or just to get a closer look.

Want to schedule a meeting?

CCW takes places at the Javits Convention Center in New York City, Nov. 13 and 14. SnapStream will be at booth 753 (see map below). We recommend setting an appointment with us in advance: schedule a meeting here. But, you are also welcome to swing by anytime during the show hours. See you there!

Because TV is our world, we are very excited to exhibit at Content and Communications World, November 14 - 15, at booth #856.

SnapStream enables TV show creatives to easily search TV and incorporate TV clips into their programs. Shows like The Soup, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report all tap into SnapStream's endless supply of up-to-the-minute pop culture and news clips.

This is the time we live in: the "clip culture."

Video clips are suddenly everywhere. They have jumped from the Internet and splattered all over TV. Talk shows, entertainment/comedy shows and even hard-hitting news programs have all added TV clips into the mix of writing and production.

How do they do it?

SnapStream provides broadcasters with the TV recording and search technology to reliably capture and re-purpose TV content.

You have The View re-broadcasting and commenting about what was said on Fox News; CNN reporting on a skit from Saturday Night Live; and E! News recapping Jersey Shore and all the latest episodes of reality TV.

Because of how easy it is to create a TV clip and play out to SDI, all of these shows have embraced the clip culture. And we have to admit, we think it's pretty cool how the landscape of TV is changing before our eyes.

With fair use, The Daily Show (and all shows) can embed and comment on any content, from any network. So now, TV is this amazingly interconnected ecosystem. Does it remind of you something? (The Web!)

In short, we love supporting and cultivating this fresh new format of TV, so please join us at CCW in New York City next week:

Make an appointment with SnapStream >>

We will demonstrate the core features for TV and film production:

• Recording and searching unlimited TV
• Creating and sharing unlimited TV clips
• Live transcoding to H.264 or WMV
• Play out to SDI (into editing suites)
• Long-term, searchable TV archives

Before I began researching the news comedy programs outside the U.S., I had no idea what the world had in store. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has inspired so many TV shows and spin-offs worldwide, that the initial query of "who are they?" evolved into a four-part series. (See posts 1, 2 and 3.) Right on key, the Foreign Policy in Focus recently wrote about the Global Stewarts, too.

We have learned that comedy and politics are tightly integrated, not just at home, but abroad. It's been good to pop out of our own "cable TV bubble" and to see how the international crowd entertains, from living rooms in South America to Israel. In today's final batch of shows, you'll see that every nation's comedic style reflects the social and political culture of the population. Comedy is how people make sense of, poke holes in, and cope with the critical, and oftentimes trivial, events gripping their daily lives.

See related posts:

• The Worldview of News Satire TV Shows, like The Daily Show
• The Daily Show equivalents in South America and Italy
• Medley of Fake News “Daily Shows” in Canada, the UK and Australia

Following up on yesterday's post: We're exploring international TV shows equivalent to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, in terms of their cultural significance and satirical style. To kick off our trip around the world, let's take a look at the funniest fake news TV shows of South America and Italy, where everyone loves Tarantino movies and double entendres. As awesome as descriptions are, it's even more telling to watch the clips!

Come back to SnapStream's blog to learn about the comedy news TV shows of Canada and the United Kingdom.

See related posts:

• The Worldview of News Satire TV Shows, like The Daily Show
• Medley of Fake News “Daily Shows” in Canada, the UK and Australia
• News Parody Lights Up TV in Europe, the Middle East and Asia

If you've heard of SnapStream's TV monitoring technology, you've likely heard The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report mentioned in the same breath. While we can't take credit for Jon Stewart's acerbic on-air personality or Stephen Colbert's deadpan delivery, we can say one thing: we are the television search technology behind the news-driven humor.

Yup, our very own closed-captioning search technology is at work on the TV production sets of both of these Emmy-award-winning shows. For this reason, we at SnapStream have a special place in our hearts for the TV genre of news satire, or "fake news." So, this got us thinking, when did this trend come into vogue? Are there mock newscast shows in other countries? Who are The Daily Show equivalents worldwide? It turns out, The Daily Show's international impact is pretty astounding.

First let's flash back: The 1960s marked the era of Britain's satire boom in broadcast, with the groundbreaking That Was the Week That Was on BBC. In 1975, Saturday Night Live took off in the U.S. with its mock newscast "Weekend Update," which continues today as the show's longest-running recurring sketch. Then came HBO's Not Necessarily the News (1983-1990). Fast-forward to 1999, when The Daily Show with Jon Stewart first entered America's living rooms.

The Daily Show took a trailblazing comedic direction, focusing on politics, current events and the hypocrisy underlying it all. The show's editorial voice has become deeply influential to our society, confirmed in a phenomenon called "The Daily Show Effect," according to American Politics Research. Look at the books written about the topic, too! (See: News Parody and Political Satire Across the Globe)

In 2002, CNN International began airing The Daily Show: Global Edition to overseas audiences, spawning syndication and fan bases in dozens of other countries. There's one official franchise in the Netherlands, The Daily Show (Nederlandse Editie). As a result, broadcasters all over the world have created their own localized spin-offs of The Daily Show, embracing the "infotainment" format and stylings of Jon Stewart.

Here's a clip of Jon Stewart appearing on the The Daily Show: Netherlands Edition, hosted by Jan Jaap van der Wal.

Up next, we will get to know the TV shows outside the U.S. similar to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report:

• Caiga Quien Caiga
• Custe o Que Custar
• Le Iene
• Striscia la notizia
• Heute-Show
• Al-Bernameg
• Parazit
• This Hour Has 22 Minutes
• Rick Mercer Report
• Week Thus Far
• Have I Got News For You
• Eretz Nehederet
• If I Were Prime Minister
• Russell Howard's Good News
• 10 O'Clock Live
• Good News Week

Stay tuned!

See related posts:

• The Daily Show equivalents in South America and Italy
• Medley of Fake News “Daily Shows” in Canada, the UK and Australia
• News Parody Lights Up TV in Europe, the Middle East and Asia

Super Bowl commercials air pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while (in between gnawing on buffalo wings and guzzling beer), you could miss the best ones! Based on our selection of favorites from Super Bowl XLVI, we can conclude that SnapStream is made up of dog lovers and Betty White enthusiasts. Who knew?

An estimated 111.3 million people watched this year's Super Bowl, making it the most watched television show in U.S. History. In case you missed it, we created a 15-second recap of all the greatest ads to catch you up to speed. (Click below.)

Whew, that was a rush of subliminal messaging! We put that together using our very own TV recording and search technology. Now, for the unabridged versions. Please enjoy SnapStream’s handpicked favorites of Super Bowl XLVI, on the house!

1. Doritos: "Man’s Best Friend"
Did you know that Doritos commercials are all user-generated? It's pretty cool, because both of their ads landed in our top picks. In this one, Doritos are centered as the dog’s mischievous bribe to his owner, in regards to the whereabouts of their missing cat. Sorry, Fluffy.
TV search term: “Cat”

2. Honda: “Matthew’s Day Off”
Matthew Broderick easily falls back into the character of Ferris Bueller, the role of a charming, clever high-school slacker which made him famous at the age of 23. In this spinoff, Broderick plays hooky in a red Honda CR-V instead of the red 1961 Ferrari GT California featured in the original film.
TV search term: “Broderick”

3. Bud Light: “Rescue Dog”
This is Pavlovian conditioning at its finest! A "rescue dog" named Weego is expertly trained to fetch Bud Light bottles whenever somebody says, “here we go.” Get it? "Here, Weego!" Clearly, Weego is prepared to handle the most urgent of emergencies, like needing a beer in your hand stat.
TV search terms: “Here we go”

4. Skechers: “Go Run”
Apparently we swoon over anything that includes a cute dog, and an underdog, at that. We also thought the CGI moonwalking was competitive to Michael Jackon's. Do you think Mr. Quiggly is an adequate replacement for the former Skechers spokesperson, Kim Kardashian?
TV search term: “Skechers”

5. The Voice: “Vocal Combat”
Dear Betty White, it is about time someone loved you for more than your body! She's America’s original and most wanted cougar, but with a mix of, "Awww, will you be my grandma?" Hey Betty, SnapStream would love to have you around, knitting sweaters and baking cookies every day.
TV search terms: “The Voice”

6. Volkswagen: “Dog Strikes Back”
At SnapStream, we're participating in a fitness challenge, so we admire this dog’s aspiration to get in shape. Plus, anything with Star Wars wins us over. Did you think the dog was funnier than the Vader kid?
TV search terms: “Get up offa that thing”

7. Doritos: “Slingshot Baby”
Another piece of consumer-generated gold for Doritos. Our favorite part is when the baby propels forward in slow-mo. Everything else in the world freezes in that moment of airborne bliss. There’s just nothing like snacking on nacho cheese Doritos with grandma on a sunny day.
TV search terms: “Doritos”

8. Oikos Yogurt: “The Tease”
We were all a big fan of John Stamos on Glee last season, so we were excited to see him make another televised appearance during the Super Bowl. Stamos proudly represents his Greek heritage in the name of protein-packed yogurt. Ladies, would you share your Oikos with John Stamos?
TV search terms: “Oikos”

9. Acura: “Transactions”
We have some serious car buffs in our office, but nothing like Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. These two comedians are well-known for their automobile enthusiasm and collections. We totally want Leno's flying squirrel suit to make our daily commutes more like super hero missions.
TV search terms: “Acura”

10. Chevrolet: “Stunt Anthem”
The stunts featured in this spot were totally extreme and off the wall, just like us. Bravo to Chevy for an excellent musical choice to fuel this epic series of stunts. We could also wax nostalgic about the car’s name, Sonic.
TV search terms: “Chevy Sonic”

And that concludes our Top 10 Favorite Super Bowl Commercials of 2012. What were your favorites this year, and why?