Page 56 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2012

THE CHANNEL | MOBILE
We also commissioned our own
white paper research document
that outlined the opportunities in
this sector from a commercial
perspective and what broadcasters
would have to do in order to
capitalise on the audiences that had
shifted onto these new platforms.
All this resulted in a number of
broadcasters deciding to work with
us to offer this new capability. The
first event that we worked on was
ʹBig Brotherʹ, which we executed in
the UK with Channel 5. There were
two channels on which the
audience could participate – one
was the telephone, the other was on
Facebook.
The audience participation on
Facebook was very high indeed,
around 40‐50% of the overall show.
What did you provide?
For the past seven years MIG has
been helping Channel 5 generate
significant revenues from mobile.
We are one of the few companies in
the world that have built this
technology which is essentially
offered to clients as a Software as a
Service based business model ‐ it’s
a platform that has a wallet, plus a
number of interactive applications.
The wallet system is obviously
designed to get the user to
purchase whatever credits are
made available, depending on the
payment platform. So in this
particular instance it was ‘Facebook
Credits’ but if it was on the iPhone
platform, the consumer would be
buying credits to interact with the
show using iTunes, and on the
Android operating system you pay
via premium SMS. Once you
purchase your credits, you can then
interact with the show, depending
on how the producers of the show
shape the interactive experience.
In the case of ʹBig Brotherʹ, the
public purchased credits to vote on
the TV show and the MIG platform
fed this data directly into the main
central vote system. Everything
that we offer through this platform
is tied into the main interactive
components of the show so it works
very seamlessly from the front end
consumer journey through to the
backend infrastructure and data
analysis.
How scalable is your solution?
It’s an IP based technology
platform so is very scalable
regarding the number of
transactions it can handle because
each transaction is essentially an
internet click from a bandwidth
perspective. We built the system to
be extremely scalable and with
peak time engagement in mind.
Does your solution work on
connected TV?
Absolutely ‐ yes! Itʹs not just
broadcasters building second
screen experiences, there is a huge
amount of activity from production
companies right through to new
second generation businesses that
are launching second screen
products and applications.
Once viewers have a broadband
connection into their flat screen TV
they can interact with TV in a very
different way. Just think what
Google TV are bringing to the
masses.
The system we designed will
work with the internet, with mobile
web, with any smartphone
operating system, with Facebook
and any other social platform,
including Twitter and with
connected TVs.
How does your model work for
public broadcasters?
For the non‐commercial
broadcasters it is not hugely
different than for other
broadcasters. Both groups realise
that a growing percentage of their
audience wants to engage with
their shows across these new
platforms, so they should be
offering interactivity to suit
audience trends and preferences,
whether this is paid for voting or
offered to the viewer for free.
For example, we have just
worked with a public broadcaster
in the UK on a trial basis to offer a
mobile web based voting
experience, with a view to
introducing it into the mainstream
in 2012.
How affordable is this?
It is pretty affordable. The fact is
that audiences are moving onto
these big platforms but there is an
education process to go through
about how to communicate to these
audiences, specifically letting them
know how they can now engage in
many different ways. So we are
working very closely with the
production companies involved to
help them come up with different
ways of talking about these new
platforms. At the moment you canʹt
actively promote Facebook as a
platform on screen. UK regulators
are currently looking at the
situation and trying to understand
what all the market forces are in
order to come up with a framework
that will allow broadcasters to
operate second screen services,
create good governance and
obviously protect the consumer as
well.
What is your ideal outcome?
We are partnering with
broadcasters to create a consumer
journey that lives on every
platform. Ultimately then, as long
as itʹs woven into the show in an
appropriate way, you probably
donʹt need to make any real
reference to the brand itself.
What we are already seeing is
that consumers have a really high
propensity to discover the brand
irrespective of whether it is
promoted or not, because of the
viral aspects of some of these
platforms. From our perspective itʹs
A smart
format
allows the
brand to
live very
much out-
side the
broadcast
window
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56 | ISSUE 1 2012 | THE CHANNEL