PRODUCT CODE: CTG 007
Command Technology Group
Interactive TV applications
Command Technology Group Voting
•Live-2-Air Audience voting and polling is becoming a key component of many broadcasting formats.
Affordable end-to-end interac-
tive Viewer participation in shows is an increasing expectation and the premium rate revenues are
TV solutions often for offsetting falling advertising revenues. Aggregating votes from a wide variety of input
•Auctions sources and graphically displaying the results in real-time on-screen is now an affordable
Participate in a live TV auction reality.
•Betting
Real roulette over the phone
Business benefits Concentrate on the show
The Data Concentrator was originally developed for use on The X Factor
•Games • As an integral driver of the programming format and offers high level of usability for live studio precision. No action
Classic arcade games against • Incremental revenue generating activity requires more than two clicks to access.
other viewers • Competition mechanism
Technical
•Quizzes live How it works The Live-2-Air voting solution is a two stage process:
The entire audience can now 1. Aggregation of the votes from the various platforms using Gallery
compete in live TV quizzes The voting engine provides audience participation with programming Manager’s Data Concentrator
events. Whether it’s choosing a winner or just voicing an opinion on the 2. Broadcast video server (RiPU or studio’s) generating real-time
•Quizzes non-live issue of the moment the voting engine will create dynamic program- graphics from the Data Concentrator’s XML output feed
Pre-formatted quizzes and ming for any audience. As the votes come in they are counted and a
puzzles featuring fastest finger real-time graphics application outputs dynamic graphic overlays which
are incorporated into the broadcast stream for playout. The engine runs
first technology
on the Data Concentrator gallery tool, which empowers broadcasters
to: CASE STUDY: The X Factor
•Voting
Real time graphic reporting of Administer Aggregating all of the vote feeds was managed with
SMS, IVR, internet and red Votes are inputted into the system through an interface accessed via a Command Technology Group’s ‘Data Concentrator’. Working
button voting web browser with Harvest Media the usability and design of the tool was
specifically developed for this deployment.
•Real-Time Interactive Maintain
Production Unit Any changes to the votes can be easily implemented The success of The X Factor presented a significant technical
Broadcast video server with challenge when it came to managing the voting. Over the
dynamic operation via IVR Schedule course of the series, The X Factor was viewed by 40 million
The event is scheduled and can be automatically started and finished people in the UK. The audience for the final show was 9.9
•Gallery manager with no requirement for operator interaction. million. !0.8 million votes cast by SMS, red button and fixed
Studio toolkit for efficiently line voting. 1,300 SMS messages processed per second.
managing live events Analyse data
Incoming communications from multiple sources such as IVR, mobile, The Data Concentrator aggregated votes from IVRs from the
internet and red button platforms are aggregated and real-time graphs UK and Ireland, SMS, Sky, Telewest & NTL red button.
•Data concentrator
and charts are generated for instant use by studio staff.
Aggregate and report on mass
participation events Statistical analysis was provided to the studio staff in
Output dynamic graphics real-time. An XML feed of these statistics was used to power
In addition to generating real time data analysis XML feeds can be dynamic graphic generation which was overlaid on-screen.
•Studio console directly integrated with industry-standard graphics tools for real-time
Manage live participation quiz overlay of results to the live video feeds. “Command Technologies have delivered a platform and
formats application to Harvest Media which was used extensively on
Analysis statistics The X Factor voting shows and I can recommend their
•TXT-Screen Statistical analysis is tailored for individual clients and event require- professionalism and attention to detail in delivering a
Live on screen chat from ments. Graphical displays are generated in a number of different participation TV solution.”
viewers’ mobile phones formats.
Edward Boddington, MD, Harvest Media Group
Integrate with existing CRM systems
User data from the incoming communications can be directly sent to a
broadcaster’s CRM system.
mobile
SDI graphic
output
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IVR
Internet
Statistical
Analysis
red
button
01373 869 855
@ info@commandtechnologygroup.com
www.commandtechnologygroup.com
Command Technology Group, Stone Bridge House, 28-32 Bridge Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8BZ