Apple-Featured Watchup Introduces 2.0, Becomes First Video-Centric News Reader for the iPad

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 25, 2013) - TV of Tomorrow Show -- Watchup, recently featured in the "What's Hot," "New & Noteworthy" and "News" sections of the iPad AppStore, today unveiled Watchup 2.0, the first video-centric news reader. Establishing a new category of news readers for multimedia consumption in the age of context, Watchup 2.0 introduces a unique "Watch and Read" functionality that lets the user easily read a related article while watching a video. Overtime, Watchup 2.0 personalizes newscasts to reflect the channels the user prefers and delivers the best, most recent news videos in a continuous stream. The year's only startup to be a finalist at two SXSW competitions, Watchup cuts through the noise of 24x7 information overload to focus exclusively on meaningful, professional video news content.

Watchup 2.0 is the only native tablet video-centric news application to seamlessly aggregate videos from a high-quality lineup of trusted, premium, global news sources into a unified multi-channel, personalized newscast. The award-winning start-up partners with top media brands, including: the Associated Press, PBS NewsHour, Univision and The Wall Street Journal.

Watchup has re-thought the entire newscast experience
"For decades people have been gathering in front of the TV set to learn the news of the day," explains CEO and cofounder Adriano Farano. "Watchup restores the informative power of the newscast by redesigning the way news is delivered in the 21^st century: real-time, immersive, non-linear yet contextual and based on a selection of quality reporting."

"Watchup is simple for me -- it's the newscast I'd design as a viewer. Why settle for one network or one broadcast, when with a few clicks, I can stack a program I'd love to watch including content from several sources," said PBS NewsHour's Weekend anchor and Director of digital partnerships, Hari Sreenivasan. "Watchup fulfills the promise of anywhere/anytime video viewing, and it puts a layer of power in the hands of the viewer."

According to a Pew Research report, news is the second most popular daily activity on tablets. In 2012, 64% of tablet owners sought news on their devices at least weekly, including 37% who did so daily, which places news consumption second to email and well ahead of games.

The Freedom to Schedule Your Daily Newscast
Watchup 2.0 blends the immersive and emotional power of video journalism with the enlightening context of print reporting with a frictionless, lean-back experience. Simply subscribe to your favorite channels and the app will build a daily newscast, delivered at a preferred time of the day. The best, most recent news videos will be immediately viewable in a continuous stream on your iPad.

"With Watchup 2.0 and your iPad, you don't need to spend endless time searching for high quality information," added Farano. "Watchup does it all for you while you grab coffee, prepare dinner or work out. Just turn it on and your newscast will play continuously while you learn what's up in the world."

Setting a New Standard:
"Watchup 2.0 delivers a simple user interface, setting the standard for bringing video journalism to the tablet. Its elegant design, ease of use and new watch and read functionality lets people find the best news videos in the shortest amount of time," said former Wall Street Journal Publisher and Watchup Advisor Gordon Crovitz.

"Watchup 2.0 software captures hundreds of current videos and articles and presents them visually on 'sheets' or 'pages' that are simple to resize, move and manipulate with the swipe of a finger through the pleasing interface our team created at Stanford," says Watchup's Adriano Farano.

Pricing and Availability:
Watchup 2.0 is free and now available in the Apple App Store here.

About Watchup:
Watchup is a Stanford StartX-incubated company that brings the power of video journalism to the emerging screens. The year's only startup to be a finalist at two SXSW competitions, Watchup received the Knight News Challenge Award from the Knight Foundation at the MIT Media Lab and has been recently featured in the "What's Hot," "New & Noteworthy" and "News" sections of the iPad AppStore. Visit www.watchup.com.