For its 24th year on-air, Discovery Channel’s popular Shark Week programming event expands to iOS devices with the release of a new, dedicated app for the iPad called Ultimate Sharks, along with a special “app within an app” update for for the existing Discovery Channel App for iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch called Shark Week Live. Both are available now, with the latter offering real-time syncing to the channel’s programs, along with social media streaming.
The Shark Week Live update within the Discovery Channel app adds quizzes, polls, shark facts, behind-the-scenes details and social streams from Facebook and Twitter that users can read and contribute to. The content will be synced to the 17 hours of shark-themed programming on the channel itself.
Viewers who don’t have an iOS device can also experience the Shark Week Live content via a web portal by visiting a special companion website. Among the highlights of Shark Week Live are user-created submissions of shark encounters.
Shark Week fans who own an iPad can also enjoy Discovery’s Ultimate Sharks, an all-new app heavy on interactive graphics, video, maps and educational data, hosted by the channel’s Mike Rowe. Among the features are profiles of the 10 deadliest types of shark, 3D interactive sharks, three hours of video, shark attack stories, deep-dive stories, over 250 high-resolution photos and AirPlay integration. The Ultimate Sharks app is selling at a reduced price during Shark Week ($5).
The annual event, which began yesterday, has become the longest-running cable-programming special event, as well as one of the most popular — last year’s event attracted 30.8 million viewers, a new record.
