Popular TV shows go for mobile interaction with viewers

Do you vote for your favourites on X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and the European Song Contest? If so, you are probably aged between 30 and 40 and belong to the third of all Danes who have taken part in SMS polls and competitions. Unwire supplies the technology for more high-load events than ever before – often for more than one show the same evening.

When the Danes vote for their favourites in major TV shows or send money to nation-wide charity appeals, they frequently do so via an Unwire solution. In their competition for viewers, the TV stations are increasingly actively involving their viewers in their programming, and in the thick of the fight nothing must go wrong. Revenue is at stake, as well as viewers.

The TV stations make exacting demands on Unwire’s operational reliability, support and set-up, as well as monitoring of the system while the show is on the air. No matter how many viewers choose to participate, SMS messages must never be allowed to hang around in cyberspace and the result of the polls must be available within a short space of time.

Ready, steady, vote

Most of the big TV shows are screened from 8 pm onwards on Friday and Saturday evenings. By that time, Unwire’s solution has been thoroughly tested many times and Unwire and the tele operators are ready to roll. Jacob Samson Schlüter is responsible for operations and support at Unwire, and by now he has been through the entire set-up of a good number of TV shows to make sure that SMS polls proceed as they should.

“We don’t go home at 4 pm and leave the voting to the people behind the TV shows in question. Our collaboration largely depends on confidence in the technology working as it should, but there’s always somebody there ready to help if need be. At really big live shows, usually the finals, we will have a man on-site, but our support department monitors the entire system for all shows,” Mr Samson Schlüter explains.

And the winner is…

With the increase in popularity of high-load events and the development of Unwire’s high-performance platform, Jacob Samson Schlüter and the operations and support department have developed standard procedures that ensure that all events proceed satisfactorily without system breakdowns. Although several TV shows are being broadcast at the same time, they have no impact on each other. The individual set-ups are completely separate and the platform is highly scalable.

A special thank you to…

High-load events have to unroll pretty much without being noticed during a TV broadcast. “An SMS polls must be an integral, natural component of the TV show. The technology has to be stable, but above all we also have to have extremely competent, dedicated staff in support, operations and QA, all of whom help to ensure a first-rate secure performance for our customers and for Unwire. Fortunately, I can assure you that we have what we need to make a difference,” concludes Jacob Samson Schlüter.