Xenophile continues to explore ITV with awards shows, ReGenesis

Xenophile Media partner Patrick Crowe says two successful tests of its interactive television technology during the Genie and Gemini awards shows could pave the way for deals with bigger content holders in the U.S. The company used Bell ExpressVu LLP’s OpenTV satellite platform last fall to enhance the broadcast of Canada’s film and TV award shows (CNM, April 30/04) by incorporating a proprietary serving technology dubbed SCALE. SCALE, which stands for synchronized content for live events, presented trivia and other contests and background information on the nominees, while soliciting interactive viewer feedback. Acknowledging that the two shows are relatively small on the list of global mega-events such as the Oscars, Crowe says they were ideal testbeds for the company’s technology and creative direction. "We never thought this was going to be the alpha and omega of what we were starting out to do," Crowe tells Canadian NEW MEDIA. But, he notes, the events were a valuable way to learn about the possibilities and limitations of the technology. Unfortunately, he says, the Bell ExpressVu platform was unavailable to satellite TV viewers for the Genie broadcast, but Xenophile still felt the exercise was worthwhile as an experiment with dual-screen audiences in preparation for doing larger events. "We thought it would be a very worthy platform. There are so many participants involved: the show’s producers, perhaps a line producer is hired to do the show, the broadcasters, the online distribution partners, the funding agencies. I mean, that’s five or six already, and then, you know, if you’re going ITV through a Bell ExpressVu or a Rogers or something, then there’s that network provider. I think we looked at this as these were great properties for us to experiment in all these relationships, building all these relationships. "That was probably one of the other big learning (opportunities) we took from this - what do the agreements look like? What are the requirements? What are the responsibilities that the various parties have and (their) interests? I think to grow this we have to look at pretty much going on a show-by-show basis. I mean, the product that we’ve created has not only the potential to be applied to higher impact or more highly-viewed award shows, where we’ve already been having some discussions, but it also has applications for news, sports, other kinds of live events, as well. (It’s good for) anything where the timing isn’t precisely known in advance. So, there are a lot of different opportunities, although, admittedly right now, it’s much easier to do the dual-screen thing, and it’s a much bigger operation to engage in something, say, for the Open TV platform." Creatively, Crowe says the company has learned a great deal through the two awards shows now, particularly related to how much content can be pushed at viewers in both the two-screen and single screen ITV environments. "I’d say the main thing we learned creatively was what kind of content works in that environment. We learned something about the synchronous content deployment experience, like, how quickly the quizzes are timed. How many quizzes there are. What kind of content is there? What’s a suitable kind of subject for a poll? That kind of thing. We also brought in a user experience architect to have a look at some user expectations in that environment, too, and to do some focus group testing. That was all very helpful." Surprisingly, he says, audiences are reacting well to ITV enhancements even as the technology is sometimes dismissed by new media thinkers as yesterday’s news. Even two-screen versions, scoffed at by some producers as unsophisticated, can be a better option than single-screen ITV, says Crowe, thanks to good support from the broadcaster, CBC. The Gemini Awards were broadcast on CBC on December 13, and the Genie Awards aired May 1 on CHUM Ltd.’s Citytv Toronto, Citytv Vancouver, its specialty TV channels Star!, Bravo! and MusiMax as well as on ASN and Access. "We knew that focusing on what we call the TV synch application, which is the web version that’s designed for the dual screen ITV experience - we knew that that one actually has a larger potential audiencejust because more people have that technology. It’s more easily accessible. More and more people have wireless hubs in their homes, so they can easily bring the laptop in front of the TV…We concentrated on making sure there was good promotion. The people at CBC were very supportive of the project. Very helpful…and the best part was just seeing how great they are at doing on-air (promotions for) the interactive stuff. Because, no matter what interactive stuff you have happening - I mean, you could have, 3D psychic Internet going on parallel to the broadcast, and if they didn’t actually tell you something about it on-air, they didn’t say, ‘go there now dum-dums,’ nothing would happen," Crowe says. "As convergent producers who’ve often done stuff that’s a little bit ahead of our time, this has to do with gauging what the temperature of the market is. Because, for example, with interactive TV stuff, even though that user experience is very robust and almost conventional, there was a time, maybe months or years ago, where there was a lot of excitement built up around that format. Less so right now. It’ll come back, again. It goes through cycles. People are very excited about wireless stuff right now, and we’ll laugh about that in the future, probably - focusing on these crazy little screens and all that," says Crowe. It doesn’t appear as though Xenophile’s continued work with ITV to add value to live events will be applied to its much-vaunted ReGenesis project, however. The company has recently received industry praise for the interactive enhancements it has done with the show, particularly blending real-life elements with the show’s narrative to draw viewers deeper into it. Asked whether a real-time interactive element might be added building on the company’s award show work, Crowe doesn’t dismiss the idea, but raises some creative challenges. "The thing to consider is that what we’re dealing with is really this whole issue of suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure how we would bring synchronous ITV into the watching of the show. But, hey, I think anything is feasible. Anything is possible," he says. "There’s been some talk about us exploring a video-on-demand format for the project, as well, because it’s very popular on video-on-demand. I think we’re trying to keep our minds open about where it could lead. But, we’re really delighted by the response. It’s so cool to see how engaged this extended reality gaming audience is in our application. Like, there are people playing the game around the world. Before it launched, we were on six separate fan sites." Even as the company pursues discussions with international broadcasters about its SCALE technology, Xenophile is also seeing interest in applying the same extended reality enhancements to drama. "We’ve had a lot of interest on that level. For example, the creator of Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence game, which is similar, is someone who’s been playing our game and watching it very closely…He was the guy who did I Love (Huckabees) alternate reality game that was accompanying the release of Halo 2 recently. You know, it seems like it might be the beginning of an interesting format that, if you think about it, is almost like an extension of the TV screen. The world that you’re participating in inside the TV screen almost expands to encompass your computer and your phone and maybe even the garage down the street where you have to go and look for clues."

Xenophile continues to explore ITV with awards shows, ReGenesis

Broadcast | December 22, 2004

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