Finland’s MTV3 is using the never.no Interactivity Suite during 2012 IIHF ice hockey matches to harvest related social media content from its second-screen app and sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and incorporate that content into its broadcasts, writes David Fox. “Sport fans often carry on a running commentary through social media while watching a game,” said Jaron Milner, head of MTV3’s consumer interaction businesses. “The Interactivity Suite enables us to tap into that commentary easily and use it to add value to our broadcasts. Now we can find and filter viewer comments and absorb them into our broadcast quickly and efficiently, which helps spark lively conversation about the games as they’re happening.” With IS, MTV3 producers can monitor Twitter hashtags and the station’s Facebook page to harvest and capture realtime social conversation, moderate the content, and directly ingest it into their Hego graphics system for on-air playout. Rather than having to browse social media sites looking for good content, and then manually copy and paste it into the graphics system, MTV3 can now do it all from a single system, which greatly streamlines the workflow. “With IS, MTV3 is getting hockey fans involved in the action more completely and efficiently than ever before,” added never.no CEO Lars Lauritzsen. “It’s an example of how sports broadcasters of all kinds can take advantage of Social TV to increase fan engagement and drive viewer loyalty — something that’s becoming more and more important as broadcasters compete for market share.” The never.no IS is a toolkit for creating the technical backbone of interactive broadcasts and Social TV. It supports participation by enabling viewers to influence a broadcast in real time, and allows them to interact with one another. With IS, a broadcaster can aggregate user-generated content from social media sites into programmes and build synchronized companion apps that enable viewers to interact with their televisions using an iPad, PC, or smartphone. never.no Prompter Prompter, which is claimed to be the first social TV app designed for TV presenters, is also part of never.no’s Social TV offering. It is designed to give anyone who works on camera the ability to use social media and interactive content on the job. “Presenters are the heart of live TV, and it’s certainly not an easy job, nor one that easily lends itself to multitasking,” said never.no Director of Marketing, James A. Neufeld. “Prompter was created to give these professionals an incredibly simple way to reach their audience that was previously either challenging or not possible at all.” Incoming comments are pushed directly into Prompter on a presenter’s iPad. Because it is powered by the Interactivity Suite, feeds and comments are filtered (automatically or manually) so that only the best content makes it to the presenter. Presenters can also use Prompter to view realtime polls with input from their viewers. It uses gesture-based navigation and has a simple interface for ease of use, eliminating the possibility of confusion or added complexity on air. “If presenters are the heart of live TV, social media is the pulse, and it is incredibly important for broadcasters to be in touch with their audience,” added Neufeld. “Prompter helps facilities meet that critical need by putting the viewers directly in touch with local hosts and national presenters alike.” Broadcast users of never.no’s technology include: Al Jazeera, BBC, CBC, Danmarks Radio, MBC, Music Choice, TV Norge, TV 2 Norge, TV 2 Danmark, Viasat, and VOA. www.mtv3.fiwww.never.no
