Foursquare has struck a
savvy deal with Bravo TV to broaden its audience among the urban hipsters that both the mobile social game and the cable network attract. Through a partnership launching today, Bravo will offer
players check-in "badges" and special prizes to viewers who go to more than 500 Bravo-tagged locations, according to the Times' Bits blog.
Locations will be selected to correspond with network shows "The Real Housewives," "The
Millionaire Matchmaker," "Top Chef," "Kell on Earth," "Top Chef Masters" and "Shear Genius." Bravo will also support the Foursquare tie-in through on-air promotions and will let advertisers offer
their own incentives, such as coupons at local venues.
The Bravo deal marks Foursquare's first TV partnership and highest-profile media deal to date. It's previously done distribution deals
with Metro News, a Canadian free daily newspaper, and Harvard University, for a campus based version of the game.
But the Bravo alliance will push Foursquare in front of millions of the
upscale urbanites who are most likely to participate in the mobile game where people win points and badges for going out at night. The effort could also become an example for how to merge traditional
TV and mobile media in a mutually beneficial way.
According to http://mashable.com/2010/01/31/bravo-foursquare-snags-a-tv-partnership/Mashable, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley says the
Bravo partnership is the first of more TV deals to come. Other food and lifestyles or entertainment networks like the Food Network, Travel Channel, and VH1 come to mind as potential partners. But
Foursquare may have more surprises in store.