DirecTV Partners With SI On App For Mag's Swimsuit Issue

DirecTV is "teaming with SI on a free Android or iOS app that lets folks who hold their phones over pictures of the swimsuit models watch videos of the pictured model's shoot," according to Edward Baig of USA TODAY. DirecTV said that there will be 19 videos "embedded within the magazine, each roughly a half-minute in length and with a brief DirecTV ad featuring supermodel Kate Upton." SI's swimsuit issue hits on Valentine's Day, and DirecTV is "placing a series of mildly suggestive half-page ads within the magazine -- 'This is why men were given eyes. And smartphones,' reads one ad." Separate from the DirecTV app, SI has "other iPhone and Android apps tied to the upcoming swimsuit issue, including one that costs $6.99 for non-SI subscribers." Unlike the QR codes that appear in many publications, the Digimarc technology SI uses in its issue "lets a user hover over any part of the swimsuit image, rather than having to precisely frame the code with a camera phone" (USA TODAY, 2/2).