Mobui today announced the release of Mobui Audience Chat, a mobile application designed to link TV audiences through chat rooms on their mobile devices.
Broadcasters that use Mobui Audience Chat will be able to offer their viewers a branded version of the application with various chat rooms related to shows, celebrities or user groups. VH1 is already offering the application in the form of its Watch and Discuss Live Chat.
To get access, viewers can download the application from the iPhone, AT&T, Verizon Wireless or Sprint app stores.
Mobui's CEO John Burry hopes that the application will evolve into another form of social networking, linking viewers with friends and other fans. "People are familiar with chat rooms, but a completely new dynamic is created when you feed the discussion with a live activity such as a TV show."
In the spirit of social networking, users can choose a name, avatar and groups of friends.
Not surprisingly, Burry's main focus is iPhone users, due to their "insatiable" appetite for applications. Mobui had success last year with its SpongeBob SquarePants application, which reached No. 6 on the iPhone App Store's most downloaded list. Mobui also offers an app that allows users to program their TiVo from a mobile device.
Mobui Audience Chat currently caters to television broadcasters and viewers, but Burry believes that the interactive concept can be applied to any audience, such as radio listeners or sporting event crowds.