I’ve long been a fan of how the BBC take the internet seriously. They have great team in place and this culminates in their brilliant BBC Internet blog. Who is this blog written for? I don’t know. It seems to be random pieces of information surrounding BBC Online, recent projects and challenges. I love it.
Then there is also the upcoming Digital Revolution series commissioned by the BBC for 2010. This will be a User Generated Content (UGC) TV series and I look forward to it hitting our screens.
Strictly Social
A fab recent example of their innovative digital approach is the Strictly Social project. Forget ‘red button’ interactive TV, this is truly interactive – and social.
Designed for use both during the show and throughout the week, Strictly Social allows viewers to ‘play along at home’. The most notable thing about this is…I actually do play along at home. The number of time I find myself shouting out ’7′ just before the judge does. So, rather than being abstract, this actually matches a real life demand.
What is it?
A Flash application that allows viewers to play along at home. It consists of five main elements:
1) The Video Screen – This displays the actual show.
2) Emotional Reaction Visualisation – Allows viewers to react to the show using ‘boos’, ‘wows’ and ‘gasps’.
3) Guess The Judge’s Score – Does what it says on the tin. allows viewers to pre-empt the judge’s verdict on dances. Users are then awarded points depending on how accurate their predictions were. This is a good loyalty feature.
4) Have Your Say – Comment or view other user’s comments.
5) Answer This – Quiz with random in-show questions.
Large Audience
Of course, with it being the BBC there will be no problems around seeding or advertising the service. The BBC website broke its own record for unique visitors when 300,000 people visited on the day the Strictly dancers were revealed. These are big numbers, at the level most commercial brands only dream of attracting. As the BBC admit themselves;
“The TV show traditionally has an older, female audience who don’t tend to come online, whilst the site attracts the younger web savvier audience.”
They hope that this application will attract the older viewers to the website and, I presume, the younger online users to watch the TV show. The team have made the conscious decision not to focus on the Strictly Twitter feed, as a large part of their audience don’t regularly use Twitter.
So log on on Saturday night and enjoy!
