Producers, advertisers begin tapping TV’s second screen for fun and profit

When it comes to TV’s emerging second screen phenomenon, broadcasters have been dipping toes in the water. This weekend, some are putting in a whole leg.

ITV: Britain’s Got Talent

The popular talent show will debut paid mobile voting and alternative camera streams via iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Voting will take place inside the Britain’s Got Talent show iOS app, which ITV says has been downloaded 500,000 times during the current series.

But votes will require votes bought in bundles of three at £1.49 via iTunes Store. It is enabled by mobile services vendor MIG, which has previously powered social TV votes for Endemol’s Big Brother.

ITV will also make four additional live backstage streams available via the app through a £1.99 “series pass”.

Zeebox: FA Cup Final

Budweiser brewer InBev is extending its football tournament sponsorship via a marketing partnership with second-screen social guide app Zeebox.

While the game is transmitted on ITV 1 and ESPN, the BSkyB-backed iPad and iPhone app will include:

Voting for Budweiser Man Of The Match via Facebook.
Tweeting using hashtags to win the match ball.
A “Be The Ref” in-app social game.
Live match stats and commentary from Opta.
Instant polling of users.
Live links to videos.

Some of the in-app features are built by Tellybug and Monterosa.

BBC: Antiques Roadshow

The BBC has, for the first time, detailed specific upcoming products it will launch to enable “companion experiences”.

This September, it will launch a “guess the value” feature for its antiques TV show.

It recently developed in-house pilots for a playalong adjunct to its Saturday-night gameshow Secret Fortune and a project giving extra contextual info beside the Frozen Planet nature documentary.

The Antiques Roadshow playalong will exist on mobile apps, web and TV Red Button, asking viewers to guess the value of on-screen items against a clock before values are revealed. Viewers can see compatriots’ valuations through an “Ask The Nation” feature.

The BBC has conducted research which found far more viewers than expected are actively engaged in programmes whilst watching.

“We want to immerse our audience in the programme they’re watching even more by building on the existing needs and behaviours the show inspires,” writes BBC IPTV head Victoria Jaye.

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