2007/10/10

From spectators to collaborators: a television programme implements the Vilau video participation format

With the use of webcams, the ETB-1 audience can take part in their favourite programmes from home.

At a time when the public is demanding greater presence in the media, Vilau has been the first in Spain to establish the format of video participation.

This system, which allows viewers to gain access and contribute to broadcasts, becoming participants and not mere recipients of information.

The first programme to make a commitment to this technology has been Betizu, an ETB-1 children?s programme, which began broadcasting with this particular format in June 2007. Using a webcam installed in the viewer?s computer, the audience can make a live contribution to the programme in real time.

This system of video participation heralds a new means of making television, changing the relationship between the audience and the media, thus responding to the need for interaction and participation and bringing ETB-1 closer to the television of the future.

Koro Lasarte, head of children?s programming at ETB-1, stresses that "we were looking to make a leap forward in the quality of children?s programming and this was a truly innovative solution. Children can participate, live on air, from their homes, which means a great step forward in the programme-viewer relationship. We are very excited about being the first in using this video-participation system, because other major channels are certainly going to take note".

Those responsible for this pioneering system at Vilau believe that it will achieve the same success as it has in other countries. ETB-1 is the first channel in Spain to use this original video participation format.

A technological platform for the television of the "Google generation".

This breakthrough used in the Betizu programme was developed using the MyCast video participation platform, designed to allow contributions via both mobile telephone cameras and webcams.

This is the dawn of the television of the future, where the viewer stops being a passive element and becomes a participant in a range of different broadcasts.

For this project, Vilau has been responsible for the integral implementation of the system and the management of the service, with the participation of Digital Magics, an Italian group specialising in the creation of innovative cross media communication formats and digital content.

As the general manager of Vilau, Javier Calera, puts it "we should stress and appreciate not only the technical complexity of the solution, but also the management and participant moderation service that we offer: we receive the video calls at our broadcasting centre and a moderator puts the people who wish to contribute to the programme through, in keeping with the editorial policy and the programme guidelines that the channel has set out for us ".

Gabriele Gresta, executive vice-chairman and head of content of Digital Magics, states that "the video participation format developed for ETB-1 is an example of what we might call the "Google television generation", the new generation of young people constantly connected via instant messaging, the web and mobile telephones. Thanks to innovative formats and tools such as this one, the Google Generation interrupts the one-way flow of information, makes a considerable change to the Reality Show model and makes the media more democratic, since the audience can easily take part in the creation of contents ".

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