Svennivig (2004), in his research on use of interactive media, points out some of the
limitations of interactive TV when he says: ‘Television may not, however, be the ideal
route for delivering interactive services in terms of volume of use. For a start, the
medium has a central social function ... This social role is not particularly compatible
with the range of existing or potential services.’ The research summarised by Svennevig
(2004) in Figure 3.9 shows that the usage of web-based services is currently much more
important than using iDTV services amongst UK audiences.How does interactive digital TV work?
Figure 3.10 shows that a set-top box is an important component of the interactive digi-
tal TV system. This is used to receive and decode the message from a satellite dish or
cable that is then displayed on a conventional TV. The set-top box also includes a
modem that is used to pass back selections made on the interactive shopping channel to
the company across the Internet using standard phone lines for the connection. For dig-
ital cable connections, there is a continuous connection between the set-top box and
the provider which means that more detailed information on customer behaviour is
available. The image displayed is lower-resolution than a PC and each supplier uses a dif-
ferent display standard. This means that HTML web content cannot readily be
transferred to iDTV and needs to be repurposed.
Sky interactive services have previously been limited to a small number of e-commerce
sites such as Domino Pizza and BlueSquare paying premium fees. This ‘walled garden’ has
now been extended to any site with the 2005 launch of SiteControl (Beta version)
https://control.skyinteractive.com. You can think of this as ‘web over TV’ although Sky is
keen not to position it as such since the reality is that content does need to be repurposed
for the lower resolution. The benefits of this new service as defined at the launch are:Any web site operator can now extend their service to include over 7 million interactive TV
Sky boxes reaching new customers and audiences efficiently and cost-effectively using
Sky’s new e-business portal. All you need to do is build a site using WTVML (that’s
Worldwide TV Mark-up Language), use SiteControl to tell Sky where the site is and config-
ure any special options you want.TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORSThis innovative campaign, supporting the launch of the Volvo S40, was shot in the style of a
documentary purporting to be a real account of the Swedish village Dalaro where 32 people all bought a
new Volvo S40 on the same day.
But Volvo has now revealed that it is Spike Jonze, the director of the films ‘Being John Malkovich’
and ‘Adaptation’ as well as the legendary Beastie Boys video ‘Sabotage’, who made the documentary.
However, it has said that the characters in the campaign are real residents of Dalaro and not actors.
This campaign shows how offline ad executions naturally drive visitors online. During the campaign,
visits to the Volvo UK web site doubled and 435,000 digital viewers of the ad selected the red button
option to view the documentary via interactive TV.
Those pressing red on iTV saw a longer eight minute version of the documentary, made by director
Spike Jonze, featuring interviews with residents of Dalaro talking about the spooky phenomenon and
had the opportunity to download brochures, thus interacting much more closely with the brand than was
possible before the advent of iTV. The documentary was also available from the web site which received
96,000 visits with 64% accessing the video and several thousand requesting a brochure.
Source: Revolution Magazine, 19 March 2004 (www.revolutionmagazine.com)Mini Case Study 3.2
Volvo encourages viewers to ‘Press Red’ for their
‘Mystery of Dalaro’ campaignRepurposing
Developing for a new
access platform
content that was
previously used for a
different platform such
as the web.