MTV Goes Interactive...

MTV has a new core iTV service that enables users to interact with the viewing experience thanks to Preloaded, the Hoxton-based agency behind Linkdup. Under the banner of MeTV (a working title and a logical progression from My MTV, MyTV...), the service pushes 'added value' content at a target audience of 18-28 year-olds who have attention spans shorter than the average goldfish.

So, how did an agency that mainly specialises in websites land such a big fish in the iTV pond? "It all started a little over two years ago when we were invited to pitch for MTV's interactive core service project," explains Paul Canty, a founder and director of Preloaded. "At that time, we had precious little iTV experience but we knew we could contribute significantly from a creative strategy and development angle, so we pitched ideas and visuals accordingly."

"Luckily, our lack of iTV experience meant we weren't hampered by the knowledge of what couldn't be done on the platform," he reflects. "This meant we could develop creative solutions based on what viewers wanted rather than technology restrictions. Preloaded is an ideas-focused agency, and although we do a lot of web work, we are multidisciplinary. So, we approached this project like any other and put ourselves in the position of the end user - with the aim of developing a service that would be useable, scaleable and relevant to the brand. We had to give MTV a service that would reflect the channel. After we won the pitch, we had several brainstorming sessions. We worked on how the service could become unique to every viewer. When we started the project in August 2001, the deadline was very tight, so we negotiated a phased roll-out."

Scheduled for a multi-phased introduction on Sky and Telewest platforms, MeTV will become an important part of MTV viewers' daily lives: they'll be able to pick content and tailor the channel to suit their tastes. It's also a branding exercise designed to promote loyalty, vital in a market characterised by 'me too' music channels.

The first phase of the service is the launch of four interactive elements: Feed, a news and gossip area; Blag, where viewers can win prizes; Bitch, where they can vote on various topics; and Splatters - an additional feature that splashes 'emotions' across the TV screen.

By pressing the red button on their remote controls, viewers can select whether to Feed, Blag or Bitch. Besides delivering news and gossip, Feed provides programming information and a variety of context-sensitive content. Using Feed, viewers can also watch TV while in enhanced, interactive mode.

Blag, the competition option, requires users to answer five consecutive music-related questions. If they answer correctly, they're put in the running to win prizes including a day with Britney Spears (but don't let this put you off! ). Later phases will enable competitions to be contextualised with video, so specific content can be attached to individual videos and programmes.

Bitch invites viewers to vent their hatred of various bands and join in votes and polls. Once their opinion has been submitted, the viewer is rewarded with a graphical results screen. Each 'bitch' can have custom graphics that reflect how the vote is swaying. Eventually, voting will affect the broadcast channel in real time, so viewers will be able to participate actively in programmes.

A 'surprise extra' that isn't on the navigation menu, Splatters is a device viewers can use to show their opinion of the current broadcast. If a viewer presses their red or green button while MeTV's running, large icons appear on screen representing good or bad. The viewer can splatter a good ('I like it') icon using the green button; or a bad ('this is shite') icon using the red button.

The idea is to train people to express their preferences towards a broadcast in readiness for later phases of MeTV. Preloaded's Art Director, Phil Stuart, explains: "Splatters, which essentially operate like stickers on your TV, encourage practices that play a part in the evolution of the 'user-centric' environment. They were developed for Phase One as an additional detail, which people would discover over time, but they'll eventually become central to the service."

Different sets of Splatter icons will be available pre and post-watershed, and will be geared towards specific shows or genres. After 9pm, they'll become more 'edgy and disgusting'. Preloaded is developing a special set for the Osbournes that will be 'quite extreme'.

So, how did Preloaded go about designing the interactive service and what were MTV's requirements? "MTV was open to our ideas and gave us a lot of flexibility. We worked closely with MTV's team in developing the content ideas and came up with the Feed, Blag, Bitch section names to give the service an attitude that fitted the brand."

The look and feel of MeTV had to differentiate it from the MTV channel. Canty explains: "The colour values work towards this aim, while retaining the brand values of boldness, confidence, unpredictability and irreverence. As the core service we developed will eventually be deployed across all the MTV channels, it needed to be easily re-skinned for different channels and programmes. MTV's in-house team has already created an Osbournes skin."

Text-based information plays a big part in MeTV, adding a quirky, unpredictable element. "The language we've used is short and snappy enough to make a tabloid journalist proud. It needs to be more succinct than web copy a richer, purer way of conveying information."

The succinct aspect of the text has also been applied to the navigation menu. Content on MeTV is easy and intuitive to access, with bold headings that have plenty of attitude. The structure is easy to update as new content comes on board. "The initial navigation is in your face says Phil Stuart. You've made a conscious decision to enhance your MTV viewing so make a choice now.

The service sections vary in their hijacking of the screen. The feed section is more of a viewing companion, so its less dominant. The ability to minimise or hide this section is crucial to the idea that viewers can go interactive and and staying the service to watch their favourite videos full screen then maximise the service if they want to. The Blag and Bitch sections are more focused competition and voting activities. So, in these sections the graphics command centre stage.

"MTV is a visually arresting channel", Stuart suggests. "So we thought we should add to that by creating in your face graphics and overlays. Many iTV offerings shrink the broadcast to a quarter or an eighth of the screen, and we didn't want to do that. Others are simply glorified Teletext. We wanted this service not to simply be graphics wrapped round video!"

MTV already had a technology partner with the iTV experience, which was useful to Preloaded although the project still threw up many technical challenges. "The main issues arose form the shifting sands of technology".

"Unlike PC and mobile projects, the The royal family of hardware iTV plays back on isn't rock get animated: constantly being updated. Technically, up dog shit, I'm a the service must run on the "oldest fookin' rock star" digital satellite box out there. Luckily, programmers are getting better at exploiting the hardware, as shown by the massive improvement in games that are now available on iTV".

As the project has a phased approach, Preloaded/MTV will benefit from any gradual advances in technology. "More of the creative can be realised as the iTV software improves. Creatively, iTV projects are reminiscent of early CD-ROM development. The quality of experience is based on good, simple, well-executed ideas, rather than eye candy."

For designers who are used to web coding, the televisual format has some particular challenges of its own, "Some team members had hours of fun with action and text-safe areas and PAL-safe palettes. We thought PAL was a dog food until we discovered iTV."

Preloaded built proof of concept demos in Director and used the Sky remote for testing. "To test graphics, we rendered them over music videos using a Matrox RT200 board in a PC," he says. "The guys at MTV prepared all the graphics we created. This was great, because we could concentrate on the creative look and feel, and run it past the technical guys for a sanity check."

The existing Feed, Blag and Bitch services are just the start of Preloaded/MTV's plans for blowing the music channel rivals out of the water. Phase Two will see increased content in the Feed section. 'Now' and 'Next' programme information will be introduced, and the gossip/news content will be contextualised. A new Jump section will show what's being broadcast on the other MTV channels, while advertising and content section skinning will appear. Later phases will see contextual MTV offerings increase, with more competition and voting options. Messaging will also become a feature of the service.

During the final phase, the integration of content into the core service will be complete and we'll see t-commerce and cross-platform flexibility. To make viewers aware of content associated with a particular video or programme, a series of icons will appear in the top left corner of the screen.

"The big concept is to make MTV yours... an entity that knows you and you know it," enthuses Phil Stuart. "It's beyond the television, stretching on to many platforms and formats. Phase One was about creating the initial 'interface' with MTV. Giving the user control over their environment, giving them decision points and a level of interactive engagement that makes them perceive MTV in a less linear way."

We put the burning question to Paul Canty: when can we expect to see the full interactive service in all its glory? "There are more phases to come which are hush-hush at the moment, besides rolling out the existing service across the other MTV channels." he replies. "We're currently working on a development that will push the boundaries of how this core service can work over numerous platforms and create a whole new MTV persona.

"The project has huge scope and is still in its infancy. MTV is multi-platform and multi-channel, so the future's rosy. You ain't seen nothing yet!"

Originally published Cre@te Magazine, April 2003. Text Jo Chipchase.