Social television — engaging the audience with an interactive app
An EU-funded company has developed the so-called ‘second screen’ environment as a platform for broadcasters to engage with their audience during a TV show, and prevent viewers migrating away from television, which could ultimately threaten the future of traditional broadcasters. “People are playing games and surfing the web or they are on social media while the TV is on somewhere in the background. Their focus is on the second screen which is the mobile,” says Dragos Alex Cercel, CEO of Appscend. The company, based in Bucharest, Romania, received a six-month Horizon 2020 grant to develop a system to combine television and audience reaction via a mobile app under the TELLY project. “TV networks and broadcasters want a tool to maintain user focus on the first screen, which is the TV,” he explains. “This can be with a mobile player versus player application connected and synchronised with the TV show itself, whether it is live or recorded. The producers can use a laptop or tablet to access the app using a dashboard we have devised. A moderator with a tablet can even write and send out questions to poll an audience during a live interview with a presidential candidate.” The layout of the app changes while the show airs, Mr Cercel explains.”The broadcaster can send different types of interactions like polls, votes and quizzes using gaming concepts to the app based on what is happening in real time on live TV.” They can use a messaging-type system so that viewers can comment on a specific topic. “This creates a lot more engagement for the entire show,” he says. What is more innovative is that the data gathered from the audience via the second screen app can be relayed back on the TV screen in real time so the audience can, for example, see how voting figures change during popular talent shows. Audience spikes “We developed a very robust backend to handle heavy mobile traffic which spikes according to what the audience sees on television at a particular time,” Mr Cercel explains. “We devised our own load-balancing system to be able to scale up automatically. When traffic rises, such as when the audience is voting, the system automatically turns on servers in the cloud to accommodate the spike.’ With a powerful backend, multiple TV shows can be added to the same app, each with separate content, which is more advanced than other apps on the market. Video content sent to the app using an embedded YouTube-like mobile video player, can also be monetised by attracting advertising on the app. Signing up clients The EU’s funding went towards a feasibility study to test technological and economic viability and to draw up a business plan, identifying potential clients such as broadcasters, media companies, event and conference organisers, for instance, to elicit audience feedback during a panel discussion. According to the EU funding agreement, “we had to sign six contracts and we signed seven, so we exceeded expectations,” Mr Cercel says. Contracts have been signed with companies in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Lebanon, Romania, Ireland and South Africa. “They are looking forward to running a pilot test with us so that the product can be fully developed. Discussions are also underway with government agencies interested in real-time polling,” concludes Mr Cercel. “We also plan to apply for a second phase of European funding for the development, launching, marketing of the system.”
Keywords
TELLY, broadcasting, gaming, TV, mobile app, app, technology, entertainment, polling