Social entertainment app Miso has teamed up with Showtime to launch its first second-screen experience that’s synchronized with a specific TV show. “Dexter,” which begins its sixth season this Sunday, is the first show to have detailed synchronization with Miso.

Through Miso, you’ll be able to vote on polls that ask who you think Dexter’s next victim might be; share the latest pithy quote from Dexter’s sister Debra; and receive notifications when your friends tune in to the show. All of this takes place while the show is airing and turns TV watching into a social activity.

The “Dexter” synchronization works through Miso’s integration with DirecTV. This ensures that you will receive content and updates that are synchronized with what is being shown onscreen. Something that is particularly cool about the “Dexter” integration is that it seems Miso will tell you the name of a song that’s playing on the show, along with a link to listen to the song on Spotify.

  

I had the chance to ask Somrat Niyogi, CEO of Miso, a few questions about this integration and what it might mean for Miso’s future.

How did the “Dexter” integration come about? Were you approached by Showtime or vice-versa?

We have been working with Showtime for over a year on various ways to use the second screen to add more value to the TV watching experience. We’ve worked with them to give virtual rewards to their viewers when “checking in” to a show and to even getting people to answer and share their opinion for each episode on the second screen while watching “The Real L Word.” We always have believed working with a show where there is so many great quotes, guest stars, and even trivia would be a great place to start to explore the possibilities of the second screen. We’re excited to be working with “Dexter” to explore the potential behind synchronized second screen experiences. This is just the beginning.

How big an influence will branded content have on Miso’s future?

We believe the second screen should add value to the TV watching experience and content will be a component of that experience. In some cases, it might be behind-the-scenes photos of the scenes, but in some cases it might be just getting to know interesting tidbits of trivia about the actors or characters in the episode. The second screen needs to appeal to everybody as we all want something different, so we need to learn what types of content people will engage with and want when they watch TV. We’ll start getting these insights with the synchronous experience for “Dexter.”

Which other series and/or networks might we expect to see integrating with Miso in the future?

We are speaking to other networks and series, but nothing to share at this time. We want to make the TV watching experience better, no matter what type of content you’re watching – sports, reality shows, sitcom, or even the news.

What types of series-specific features and content might we expect to see down the line?

I don’t think there is any one specific feature that people want – but there might be some general use cases, such as what music is in the background, who are the guest stars, interesting trivia, great quotes that people say as you watch TV, but that’s just scratching the surface. We have a lot more to learn about what people want while they watch TV and we will get to explore this with Showtime and “Dexter.”

You can check out the “Dexter” integration by downloading the updated version of the Miso iPhone app and tuning into Showtime when the show airs this Sunday. The DirecTV integration (and by extension the “Dexter” synchronization) is not available on the Miso Android app at the time of this writing.