Mark Burnett, a successful global producer and the acknowledged pioneer of reality programming in the US — is set once again to make a major leap forward that is sure to reinvent the broadcast and cable worlds. Mark Burnett has teamed up with technology company ACTV8, to usher in a whole new world of audience participation and integration with television. Now, anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Android device will be able to interact, socialize, consume, share and participate in real time, all while watching his or her favorite TV shows.
Mark Burnett’s successes include the long-running Survivor (currently in its 23rd season) airing on CBS; The Voice, which starts its second season in February 2012 on NBC; The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, Shark Tank on ABC; and a host of other very successful franchises. Burnett also produced the 2011 Emmy Awards; the 2010 and 2011 People’s Choice Awards; and the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, which aired this past weekend. Since 2007, Burnett has also served as the executive producer for the MTV Movie Awards.
In making the deal with ACTV8, Burnett explains, “It has always been my dream to create a deeper and more engaging relationship with the audiences of our shows. ACTV8 enables us to give the audience exactly what they want: interactivity, metadata, behind the scenes views, scoops and insights, social relevance and connectivity. Today’s audience brings a whole new set of expectations from the shows they connect to and embrace. ACTV8 allows our content to take a much more important and relevant position for consumption within the changing lifestyles of our viewers. This breakthrough technology serves to foster a world of “New Era TV Networks.’”
ACTV8 delivers what it calls a “complete global media integration platform.” The platform synchronizes a user’s mobile device or tablet to any live or recorded video broadcast and not only provides rich interactive content to the user’s device related to the programming, but also feeds viral hooks into Facebook and Twitter. With its proprietary technology, ACTV8 has married broadcast and cable television to the two largest social media platforms on the planet, and then made this all interactive, thus creating the ultimate uber-platform. The technology enables ACTV8 to deliver a host of program enhancements, line extensions, quizzes, trivia, gaming and sales experiences in conjunction with any TV programming.
Founder and CEO Brian Shuster explains, “ACTV8 represents an altogether new model for digital media creation, interaction and distribution. ACTV8 creates a world where viewers won’t skip branded messages and integration, because ACTV8 unlocks their value for consumers. We are working with the largest brands in the world to enrich their connection to the consumer and establish new relationships between their brands and their audiences”. Most of these brands and most TV industry executives acknowledge a major problem facing the medium today: the DVR. And as consumer adoption of the DVR grows, TV ad spot values decline. How can we keep the viewer watching? Like other players in the growing Social TV market, ACTV8 and its partners are set to reinvent the value proposition for the TV networks, the advertisers and most importantly…the consumer. Consumers are rewarded for their participation with content, including special offers and coupons from many of the leading TV advertisers in the US.
SOURCE ACTV8 /PRNewswire/
