BroadbandBananas Interactive TV Videos

In this section over the coming months we will be exploring how digital TV platforms and service providers market their interactive services to the consumer and raise the awareness of their iTV services.

If you have any interesting examples of clever iTV or Broadband marketing from around the world, please contact us.

The availability of online access to the UK's lotto draw via PC or the Sky Digital set-top-box has made it much easier for consumers to purchase their tickets for the Wednesday and Saturday draws.

This promo aims to drive Sky viewers to the WTVML based interactive Lotto service, video of which can be seen by clicking here or by visiting the Video Vault's 'Games & Gaming' Section.

'Think you know Sky? Think Again' - is the tag to this conventional TV ad campaign running across ITV for Sky+, Sky's PVR. Its a more lifestyle associated campaign for 2004 and whats interesting is that it puts the convenience of Sky's PVR into a family context, showing how it allows a family to manager their use of TV and at the same time, steers clear of promoting technology and gimmicks which can sometimes alienate potential Sky subscribers.

This year sees the first truly interactive Olympics with viewers able to access and have the choice between a number of simultaneous video feeds coming out of Greek Olympic sites.

This promo encourages viewers to press the red button, or explore the BBC's online services.

Sky are keen to grow their base of Sky Plus subscribers and these campaigns clearly demonstrate the benefit of the new box in recording one channel whist watching another or recording your favourite shows whilst you are away from home.

The current Big Brother series has been a catalyst for a great deal of application development on Channel 4 & E4.

With a variety of iTV games across digital satellite, digital cable and now also on Freeview through the Free2Play portal, Channel 4 are starting to use promos to drive viewers to their iTV games by pressing their RED BUTTON.

Sky has achieved considerable success in upselling new services to its subscribers.

From 30th September 2002, there were 75,000 subscribers taking the "Extra Digibox" option - up 41% (Sky install a second decoder and dual LNB, on condition both decoders are connected to the same telephone line) whilst there were 38,000 subscribers to the Sky+ Personal Video Recorder, up 37% in the quarter.

Sky expect further growth in the takeup of these products due to the current on air and interactive campaigns (see video above) which are currently promoting Sky Plus across the network.

Don't forget - you can download and save the majority of these files to your hard disk for more reliable playback....

This promo which is stripped across the BBC channels shows the additional interactive services available during Wimbledon 2002 to all digital homes, not just the ones receiving Sky Digital.

Well, when I say all, all except NTL who seem to be dragging their heals when it comes to any kind of interactivity linked to a TV programme, regardless of whether it is full enhanced TV or not!

Several months down the line, Sky's Lil' Red Button Man is still being stripped across Sky's channels during the advertising breaks in a bid to get viewers to use the interactive services on the Sky platform.

It would be interesting to see what, if any increase in uptake of these services has been since the campaign launched and if any peaks can be seen in modem connections following the promos airing.

Two versions are featured here - a promo for Sky's Customer Channel interactive service and another for the Tetris game on Sky Gamestar.

Personally, I've not been able to relate to these campaigns as I think the computer animation is a little gimmicky and highly repetitive. (if you compare the two videos, all that seems to change is the voice over and background image.

I would have thought that a more human approach, showing real people using the services (as with the Sky News promos below) would have been much more effective in giving the viewer confidence and a concrete reason to interact. Still I'm sure many people would disagree with me on that too!

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TPS is one of the original interactive TV pioneers in Europe having rolled out over 300 services since 1996. This video gives a quick overview of the wide range of iTV services on the digital satellite network which include TV Mail, Classified Advertising, Astrology, Quizes, Games & Competitions, Customer Service, Interactive TV Advertising, TV Betting with PMU and T-Commerce in "Mon Shopping".

Some interesting figures recently released by TPS show they receive a total of 26.05 million interactive contacts per month.

More information can be found at http://www.tps.fr

'Lil' Red Button Man' has been jointly developed in house by Sky's creative agency and the world-famous animation creators Uli Meyer studios - who have Roger Rabbit and Space Jam to their credit. Lil' Red is an amalgamation of great British rock icons from the last thirty years.

In the first of a series of on-air executions Lil' Red struts around to music composed by Goldbug, who had chart topping hits in the early nineties. Wearing a 'Touch Me' t-shirt, Lil' Red incites Sky digital viewers to press the red button on their remote control, when watching a Sky channel - demonstrating that interactive TV is a fun and easy to use addition to the viewing experience.

Sky Active are fortunate to have the ability to effectively promote their interactive services across all of Sky's channels through advertising and promos - this lighthearted spot lets people know that there are free games available by pressing the red or interactive button.

Many analysts see games as key to all digital platforms in familiarising the audience with interacting with their televisions and remote controls. Clearly free games also entice the audience to also opt for pay-per-play games - which in the UK is predominately billed via premium rate telephony drop calls.

This promo introduces and explain's the benefits of BBC's Six Nations Interactive service that is available on Sky Digital, and accessible via the Red button.

This promo (slightly abridged for easier download on this site) provides a good mix of video action combined with shots of BBCi's Winter Olympics application and a guide on how to use it.

The actual service is accessible via the RED button during Olypics programming on BBC 1 and BBC 2 and also via the TEXT button when no Olympics programming is showing live. Once in the service you have access to 3 seperate video streams plus news and results direct from Salt Lake City.

MTV's recently launched interactive service to accompany the MTV Hits channel invites viewers to press red.

It will be interesting to see if MTV follow this promo up with a more explicit statement of what you can actually do with their new interactive services.

Canal Satellite France provides occasional guides on how to use their interactive services on Channel 7 of its platform (C SAT) which runs a loop of programming highlights and promos 24 hours a day to help viewers navigate their way around the platform and find the best programming.

In this short video CPRATIQUE explains how to use Lagardere's Elle Horoscope application.

ITV Digital get a great deal of value out of their character "Monkey" - a stuffed puppet used across much of their advertising for the platform.

Here we have an example of the on air campaign for the interactive version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire featuring Al and Monkey.

From October 1st - Sky ditched the Open.... brand and relaunched and reconfigured its interactive services as Sky Active.

You can view the promo taken from the Sky Customer Channel by Clicking Here.

The Open.... brand (four dots!) has always sat uneasily against Sky - and the new look is the final nail in the coffin for a brand which was all to often confused with Sky's middleware provider OpenTV.

The new service is now more effectively integrated with Sky's other interactive services, particularly enhancements to programming.

It remains to be seen whether this rebranding will encourage more UK homes to interact, shop and bank via their TV sets.

Summary of Changes...

Viewers now have the ability to reach all Sky Active services by pressing the red button on any Sky Channel - This now leads to a menu screen with the TV programme still available in 1/4 screen mode. (previously viewers had to leave the programme they were watching to use Open...'s services.)

In the Sky Active Main Menu accessed from the INTERACTIVE button on the remote) the video loop changes as you go through each of the options - so you have a promo for email whilst in that menu option and a promo for Domino's Pizza whilst you are in the shopping/food areas.
The new interface is much cleaner and easy to navigate.
The style and look of the banner advertising is now much richer, more rounded and more "TV Friendly."
There is now a less regimented use of colour keys allowing all 4 keys to be used for navigation purposes in the right hand portion of the screen.
Major Retailers like WHSmith, Dixons etc appear to have less prominence in the service than previously.

Viewers can continue to watch programming whilst interacting with Sky Active services.

Options can now be selected using the remote controls colour keys rather than the numerical keys on the remote.

This X Files/Close Encounters style promo video taken from Sky's Interactive Customer Channel provides a simple overview of the new functionality available in Sky's new "Sky+" STB which also integrates PVR functionality similar to that in Tivo and Reply recorders - but with the additional benefit of being integrated with the existing EPG.

Already a number of competing email systems operate on the Sky plaform - however first to launch was Open.... with Open Mail. This short promo actually shows the primary reason why the TV isn't the best place to check your email!

When you have over 6 million UK digital TV homes do you sit back and wait for them the find your interactive services? Obviously Not!

Sky News continually drive their UK audience to interact, despite the fact that there is a sizeable international community who can't access the services and feel disenfranchised by this promotion.

However, by promoting the interactive services, Sky adds value to its news programming by personalising news and ensuring viewer retention. At the same time the service also allows them to generate revenue from the telephone calls the STB needs to make to register the vote.

The opportunity to personalise news and choose stories at will is used particularly effectively in segments of the news bulletin that only apply to small segments of the viewing community e.g. financial news

During the business news bulleting an on screen banner that appears driving people to more detailed information.

ON SCREEN PROMO DURING BUSINESS NEWS

Probably one of the most talked about a popular interactive services, Sky Sports Active is now used across a wide variety of sports including Soccer, Golf and Cricket. This promo explains the benefits and the various features to the consumer.

Sky explain the benefits of their recently launched interactive movies application Broadcast hidden away on channel 700 the service provides highlights across all of Sky's Movie Channels as well as their Box Office PPV Services.

These promos have been clearly designed to show that Sky News Active is an everyday tool for everyday individuals and families to get the news they want, when they want.

The ITV Election 2001 interactive service was the first time ITV had commissioned across so many interactive TV platforms (DTT, digital cable - plus the web) and was the first time such an detailed promotion was done on air. It resulted in phenomenal usage rates across all the platforms, at the time of broadcast and every hour when a shorter version was repeated.

Whilst Sky have made strenuous efforts to make the whole Sky environment as easy to use and as intuitve as possible, it still takes some getting used to.

See how Sky introduce their new subscribers to the functionality of the Sky Digibox.

See how NTL are educating subscribers on how to use their new digital cable TV service in the UK.