We know that the main deal is on the big screen; you want your show to be watched by an engaged and appreciative audience. Like fries with a burger, the best accompaniment is both simple and delightful. A great 2nd screen app enhances the TV production and delivers a whole, greater than the sum of the parts.
It's always nice to get something back: A badge to show to your friends or simply an acknowledgement that you've played a part. That's why, at the heart of the Tellybug platform, we've built a comprehensive set of tools that allow you to reward your viewers and keep them coming back for more.
It's been understood for decades that TV is more fun when you watch with others. From the water-cooler chatter around reality TV shows to shouting at the football, we all want to share what we see and how we feel. Everything we build has social at its heart; we connect great TV shows to the viewers and the viewers to each other.
A TV call-to-action is the very best way of getting viewers to do something. When pointed to a web-hosted asset, that CTA is like launching a distributed denial-of-service attack on yourself. That's why we focus hard on making our interactive platform as robust and secure as it can be; so that you can be assured that your 2nd screen investment will not fail.
We pride ourselves on producing 2nd screen TV experiences of the very highest quality. We specialise in producing mobile apps because we believe that they deliver the best experience to the largest number of viewers. Because we focus on creativity, engineering excellence and rigourous testing, our apps are consistently rated 4-4.5 stars in app stores.
Producers and broadcasters look to multiplatform offerings as a means to extend their show brands, create value and produce a monetary return. The Tellybug platform is designed with providing a commercial proposition very clearly in mind. It is our aim to be an enabler of new revenue streams rather than just a hit to your bottom line.
For the second series of The Voice on BBC1 in the UK, the global format holders Talpa sought out Tellybug as its partner to produce The Voice Predictor game. Available on a wide range of platforms across desktop and mobile web to apps for iOS and Android devices, The Voice Predictor game brings deeper levels of audience interaction and play-along.
Mimicking the coaches in the studio, viewers can join in with all the fun and drama between shows as well as during broadcast transmission. Before each show, viewers are given access to previews of every performer’s audition. Just like on TV, the user presses the red button to spin the chair and predict that the artist will go through. No spin of the chair and you’ve predicted that the performer will be rejected. Predictions are then saved, shared via Facebook and Twitter or simply printed for comparison with the show as it airs.
Each phase of the show format is replicated in play-along form with regular app updates as the show series progresses.
Play-along with each phase of the show
2nd only mobile companion app by BBC
Most successful play-along ever run by BBC
Developed in parallel with TV show production
Major part of show promotional campaign
Support across multiple web and mobile app platforms
Weet Ik Veel is a brand new quiz show format from Talpa with its first showing in The Netherlands fronted by Linda de Mol. The show pits 300 students in the studio audience against a panel of celebrities in a varied test of general knowledge. The show and the play-along are both split into 5 rounds of 10 questions which must be answered against the clock. The play-along quiz is synchronized with the live-run television broadcast and provides the opportunity to accumulate a score and compete for a prize.
After only a few show transmissions, the format is already proving to be hugely popular with the mobile and web play-along an active part of its success. So far, more than 300,000 unique users take part in the quiz every episode, via the second screen, representing around 15% of the TV viewership. These are record-breaking numbers in a world just beginning to wake up to the possibilities of second screen integration into popular TV formats.
600K downloads in first four weeks
Over 300K unique players per show
15% of audience playing along
Complex quiz format play-along
Responsive HTML5 web and mobile
Full user scoring and data capture
Now in its second year of production based on the Tellybug platform, the official mobile app for The X Factor UK continues to show the way for mass audience 2nd screen engagement.
This year's app adds significant interactive and social functionality and integrates yet further with the show by adding real-time polling to the now famous Tap-to-Clap interaction. For the first time, The X Factor producers are able to directly ask viewers what they think of Tulisa's dress, or the current battle between Gary and Louis, then feed the live result directly to the gallery and onto the presenters.
2012 also sees the introduction of an iPad version with an innovative, dynamic user interface.
Over 1.1M downloads in 3 months
iPhone, iPod Touch & Blackberry
'Tap-to-Clap' interactivity
300M interactions across the series
Banner & video advertising inc. Ad-Sync
iTunes song download integration
The Tellybug platform first powered the audience buzzer for the Britain's Got Talent mobile apps in 2011. For 2012, we re-built the entire experience from the ground up, based on the latest functionality in our platform. Being able to do this took the whole experience to the next level.
The app includes multiple forms of interaction: press the iconic big red buzzer or; with the device turned on its side, wave one of the selection of fully customisable flags which then 'flap in the wind'.
Most significantly, BGT 2012 provided the opportunity to try out some new forms of revenue generation. This was our first app to include our framework for in-app purchases for premium content, allowing the app to offer live streams from backstage cameras and also provide a front-end for in-app voting. Adding push notifications and even deeper Facebook integration helped further drive the apps usage and reach to the Britain's Got Talent audience.
Over 800K downloads in 2 months
Nearly 300K unique users during TX
Dual interaction: Buzzer and flags
In-App purchase of premium content
Back-stage video streams
Push notifications added to platform
2012 was the very first year that ITV and ITV Studios commissioned a 2nd-screen play-along experience for Dancing on Ice.
As well as a wide array of catch-up content, the app incorporated a play-along to allow viewers at home to join in and mimic the professional judges on screen. This play-along, called 'Score the Stars' gave viewers the chance to score each performance and then have the aggregated result delivered back to the studio gallery. Because every episode of Dancing on Ice is a live transmission, this data could then be used to add further content and interest to the show.
As with many interactive experiences driven by the Tellybug platform, the play-along was also made available as an embeddable widget placed on the ITV show landing page.
Mobile app and web widget
Reached Top 5 in Apple AppStore
Four and a half star rating
'Score the Stars' play-along
Real-time results used as TV content
Facebook and Twitter sharing
Switch is a unique, new, supernatural drama series about a group of witches living in Camden, London. Produced by Touchpaper Television and showing on ITV2, it is the first scripted TV drama to have its storylines simultaneously extended onto a mobile digital platform.
By effectively giving access to the main character Jude's phone, the Switch iPhone app complements and adds to the show’s narrative by letting users check out her private emails, pictures and voicemails.
Users are able to immerse themselves in the lives of the Switch characters, in real time, and as the show is aired. Jude's phone also has a 'Witch' app on it, effectively an 'app within an app' allowing users to form their own covens and ‘cast spells’ on friends through the apps extensive integration with Facebook.
Parallel storylines on mobile
Engagement between show TXs
The 'Witch' app within an app
Dedicated, custom CMS built by Tellybug
Deep Facebook integration for spell-casting
Multiple ad and sponsor opportunities
