Text to Television is Terriffic
by Bob Bentz
Remember the days when people were talking about interactive TV? It was only a few years ago that interactive TV was all the talk. Companies talked of TV-top boxes that would enable viewers to interact with the television programming. It was, in the mind of the inventors, the next generation of 900 numbers for television.
My how times have changed. Nobody even mentions interactive TV any more. That’s because the cell phone has become THE mechanism for interactive TV. No other device is deemed necessary. The cell phone is the answer.
All you have to do is look at the proliferation of interactive programs that have hit television. Text message television age applications are commonplace. Deal or No Deal is probably the prime example of a successful television text message promotion. Deal or No Deal generated more than 57 million text message entries during the 2006 season.
But, Deal or No Deal is not the only winner. There’s Big Brother, Midnight Money Madness, and Playmania. The latter two shows exist solely for text message entries and 900 number entries. It can’t be long until local television uses text message voting in their broadcasts.
One of the other interesting things about interactive television text message promotions is that television has embraced premium text messages–in other words, text messaging where the consumer pays to participate. Radio text message promotions, another growing user of bulk text messaging, has avoided premium text messaging like Nicole Richie avoids the buffet line.
Interactive TV has found its niche and its right in the palm of your hand.
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