Overview
Most of the time watching TV is portrayed as an unproductive activity, which is why it’s earned the nickname Boob Tube and Idiot Box. But what if you could actually make TV work for you, rather than just be a source of entertainment, information, and a time to veg out? That’s the concept behind Viggle, so of course lots of people have tried it out. The feedback on the current version of the app has been promising, but like always there are several people voicing their opinion that it doesn’t quite work out the way it is advertised to.
The Claim
The main claim made by Viggle is that you can make TV more rewarding by simply checking in to the shows that you watch and earning points just for watching them. They showcase prizes like t-shirts, gift cards to places like Lowe’s and CVS, and cruise trips aboard Royal Caribbean. Of course each prize has a different point value, so it’s much like standing at the counter of Chuck E. Cheese with a handful of tickets and seeing the big prizes having a value that would require you to spend a lot of tokens. In this case the larger prizes are going to require some mad television watching over a long period of time.
The Hype
This is a free app for Android and iPhones, so it doesn’t take much for users to download and try it. What is impressive is that they’ve gotten enough users to make it a success, as least for the short term. There are thousands and thousands of apps that never get even a few hundred users, so they’ve figured out how to attract and retain enough of a fan base so that people are talking about it and creating a buzz around it.
The Cost
The app is free to download and use, although you will be signing up as a member of Viggle,
The Commitment
There is a bit of commitment involved here, because you have to remember to check into shows as you’re watching them, or it won’t work out too well for you. They say you can discover new shows to watch, which could make it a bit addicting, adding to the number of hours you spend watching TV or at least thinking about what to watch and when to watch it.
Evaluation
It only makes sense that a loyalty program would find its way to the TV. We already get “rewarded” at places all over town with loyalty cards to coffee shops, and discount club cards at grocery stores, pharmacies and more. Many people have keychains full of scanable cards so that they can get the best prices on what they’re buying. The whole time retailers are using the data the cards provide on shopping habits and purchase decisions. The same concept is at play here, although taken to a different level because you’re actually supposed to be able to earn real stuff by simply watching TV.
Most of us don’t think twice about downloading free apps, installing them, signing up, and using them. They’ve made the process so quick and easy that before you know it you’re up and running and you blow by the terms and conditions without a passing glance. But you really should consider what you’re exchanging for these free points and potential rewards. Until now the networks only had the Neilsen ratings to try to help determine which shows were popular and which were flops. With the data on all the “Vigglers” they can more accurately determine how the majority of people are reacting to a program.
Viggle is getting the Solid Try rating from us, based on the fact that it’s
free to download and sign up. If you don’t mind giving them information on what you watch, and when you watch it, as well as demographic information, it’s a way to make watching TV more fun, and could potentially lead to earning some gifts along the way. It’s not as if the gifts are going to be life-changing, and it may seem silly to try to go for prizes like a cruise, but getting a free gift card once in a while for watching TV shows you already watch would make it worth using.Our Recommendation
If you set out to use this to try to get tons of prizes, you’ll probably be disappointed. But if you simply use it as a fun accessory to give you more information on the shows you watch, and see what others are saying about those shows, and just take whatever points that accumulate as you’re doing so as an added bonus, you’ll likely have a good time and say that it is a useful app.
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View Comments
To the naysayers that Viggle doesn't raise their prices: a music TRACK (as in single song) used to be 3,500 points. It is now over 25,000. An album that was 29,500 is now 239,800, with a cash price of $11.99 (which interestingly onnmany of them is $2 higher than iTunes.) With this whole Perk acquisition, they devalued your remaining points by a factor of 8. So, what you used to need 1,000,000 for you now need 8,000,000. And that is BEFORE the acquisition is finalized.....just wait and see until after it is complete how little your points are valued. Someone sxrewed the pooch in this conversion, and now a large volume of users will be lost as a result (and rightfully so!)
Viggle allows customers to purchase movies with the Viggle points but not during holidays. I've noticed conveniently removes the option to purchase movies this Christmas. They removed option to force the customers to use currency to purchase movies directly from MGO. This very disappointing!
This app is totally not worth it. There are no products or gift cards to get for your points. Just downloads for music and tv shows an ebooks. Here is my Viggle experience:
So around 8 months ago my account with 700,000+ points was suspended and removed because it was "not in accordance with Viggle's terms of use"...which could only mean I was watching too many ads they provided to me and was reaching the daily limit. When challenged, they were unable to present to me which term of the user agreement I had violated. I guess I was too good at earning points.
I have since realized the app is a total waste of time. I did the math and realized when they used to have prizes, I was earning about 20 cents an hour of my time based on prize values--and that was usually maximizing bonus shows, quizzes, and music daily. And it isn't as easy as people say. 80-90% of points you earn (TV shows will give you a few hundred a night) are very active activities like watching 50 ads a day, looking for songs to check into, and answering quiz questions.
Anyway, I vowed to them to continue telling and spreading my experience until this company is buried, and I got silence from their customer service. I am not surprised their stock value has dropped 86% year to date and is hovering around 0.50.
I was an early user of Viggle and loved it. I recommended it to everyone. Now there is no reason.
It is harder to earn points but that doesn't matter because there is nothing to spend your points on. It has been 2 years since I have redeemed any points. I still log in to look for any rewards because I have a lot of points banked.
You can use your points to enter sweepstakes sometimes. They are usually lots of points for poor odds at something I don't want.
Then there are a handful of digital books I don't want at a rate 0.037cents per point.
The digital music, movies, and TVshows are even more useless as I have subscription services.
Don't waste your time.
I watched all those lame bonus shows and stayed up late to get all my songs for each day. I was saving my points up for months and all I wanted was my 150,000 points for some ear buds. Then only a few points away...without warning all the rewards are GONE ALL GONE. What the heck? You can't do that! I AM DISAPPOINTED VIGGLE FOR SHAME! Wouldn't let me give 1 star though it should be ZERO STARS
Viggle *used to* work great until they opted to remove all decent rewards from their app. I'd been saving points for more than a year and a half to get a Keurig for my boyfriend (had almost half a million points) when it suddenly vanished. I was annoyed, but thought, "OK, well, fine. I can buy him one. I'll get the Bose speaker to take to the beach." Guess what? A few days later, that disappeared as well. The gift cards have been gone for over a year, as has the cruise. The only things left now are Twizzlers and Viggle t-shirts. Seriously? Oh, and digital content, like TV shows and whatnot. When I contacted them to ask what had happened to all of the rewards, all they could say was "We offer plenty of digital content." I was a hard-core daily Viggler and now don't even bother because all of the prizes of tangible value are gone.
What happened to the rewards? The only things that are out there are Twizzler shirts and other Twizzler merch.
For those complaining about value or my favorite complaining about being paid for time on the app: Grow up and READ! This is a free app. I spend (not including Viggle live trivia) maybe 10 seconds an hour. For this I earn points for which I've received over $300 worth of merchandise. No price has EVER increased. Yes, they keep having bugs but it does slowly improve. Value for investment is fantastic!!
FREE??? I pay for this stupid phone and wifi! My time AND opinion are very valuable I'm not asking for any FREEBIES! I was tricked into believing I could receive some ear buds for 150k points then just a few points away, without warning they REMOVE ALL THE GOOD PRIZES!
I have come to figure out Viggle is pretty much a fraud. The dirty truth is it is a data mining agency. I was on schedule using the app around 2 hours a day to get around a million points in a year. A million points is worth around $300, so that is around $0.41 cents per hour for my time on the app. Totally not worth it. I'm done. .
Recently revised app..Why? If it ain't broke why fix it. New app has to many bugs