TV Time, a series tracking app with 26.4 million installs, will shut down on July 15, 2026 — owner Whip Media is discontinuing the project to focus on AI products. The service's founder, António Pinto, who sold TVShow Time to the company in 2016, has announced the launch of a new app called Bingers to migrate the fan community and restore the original functionality while eliminating technical issues.
Why TV Time is leaving the market and what users get in return
Whip Media announced the closure of TV Time as part of a restructuring focused on artificial intelligence — the app will become unavailable in stores two days after the announcement. More than 25,000 people signed a petition demanding the service be preserved, but the owner did not change its decision. According to Pinto, the reason lies in the project's economics: server infrastructure for a multi-million user base was expensive, and premium subscriptions covered only 10% of these costs.
The new Bingers app is being developed in Paris with the predecessor's mistakes in mind. The architecture is built to minimize infrastructure costs — this will keep the project profitable as the community scales. Pinto promises to solve the problem of slow content loading and freezing when marking watched episodes during peak traffic moments, when millions of users log in simultaneously after new episodes of popular shows air.
«TV Time has been part of my life for many years. Reading the community's reactions after each episode became a ritual for me and many others — I decided to build a new home where this community could come», wrote António Pinto on the Bingers blog.
How to transfer viewing history and preserve social connections
The Bingers website accepts archives from TV Time through a data export tool in compliance with GDPR — users can download their information before the app is removed from stores on July 15. The import restores not only the list of watched series and statistics, but also community comments under episodes — a key social feature that most competitors in the media tracking category lack.
The launch of mobile versions for iOS and Android is scheduled for late July 2026. The project website is open for waitlist registration to receive notifications about the launch — this strategy allows accumulating an audience before release and creating a critical mass of users from day one. Given that TV Time's multi-million user base has been left without an alternative in a short timeframe, Bingers gets a window of opportunity to quickly capture the market in the series tracking niche with social mechanics.
What TV Time's story means for brand work with influencers
The closure of an app with a 26-million user base shows the vulnerability of platforms built around communities without sustainable monetization. Influencer advertising requires diversification of channels and constant platform monitoring: sudden platform disappearance or algorithm changes can nullify campaign results. When planning media buying, it's important to account for audience migration scenarios and work with aggregated reach data from multiple sources — the ETC team builds media plans with such risks in mind, forecasting KPIs based on cross-platform analytics and selecting bloggers with diversified presence.
Frequently asked questions
When will TV Time shut down
TV Time will be removed from App Store and Google Play on July 15, 2026. Until that date, users can export their data through a built-in tool in compliance with GDPR requirements — the archive includes viewing history, statistics, and comments.
What happens to TV Time user data
All data can be transferred to the new Bingers app through archive import — the feature is already available on the project website. The import restores the list of series, viewing marks, and community comments under episodes, preserving the service's social component.
When will Bingers launch
Mobile versions of Bingers for iOS and Android are scheduled for late July 2026. The project website is open for waitlist registration to receive launch notifications — TV Time data import is already available.
In brief
- TV Time with 26.4 million installs is shutting down on July 15, 2026 — owner Whip Media is pivoting to AI products despite a petition from 25,000 users.
- Service founder António Pinto is launching Bingers — a new series tracking app with a feature to migrate data and comments from TV Time.
- The reason for closure is unprofitability: server costs for the multi-million platform were covered by premium subscriptions for only 10%, and Bingers' architecture reduces infrastructure expenses.
- TV Time archive import is already working on the Bingers website, with mobile apps launching in late July 2026 for iOS and Android.
- The story shows the need to diversify channels in influencer advertising — brands should protect campaigns from sudden platform changes through cross-platform analytics and media buying that accounts for audience migration risks.
Want to see where the market is heading before your competitors do? The ETC team builds a media strategy and media plan for your niche — with reach forecasts and KPIs fixed in the contract.