Seven explores new digital content with development of Home and Away app
Network Seven has funded the development of a Home and Away app as the network looks to create a new advertising revenue stream in addition to keeping viewers hooked on the show while it is off air.
Home and Away: Summer Moments has been created by digital production firm The Project Factory in collaboration with scriptwriters of the Seven soap.
The Project Factory group executive director Guy Gadney said it will provide brands with new ways to become integrated with TV shows while giving Seven another platform to engage with viewers.
The app will feature a “deeper insight” into eight Home and Away characters – one of which is revealed each week – and follows the season final on Wednesday where a bus crash has left viewers on tenterhooks.
Canon has come on board as a partner and is offering a weekly prize of a camera and printer pack.
Seven said the Home and Away app is the first of its kind for the network as it looks for new ways to engage with audiences.
“We are updating our existing apps for the 2015 seasons and exploring digital extensions for shows when an opportunity arises, such as this new app for Home and Away,” a spokesman said. “It’s our first foray into transmedia storytelling, where content and storyline reference the broadcast but exist outside of the programme.
“We are an integrated media company across television, publishing and online and are always expanding opportunities that drive revenues and cross-promotes our content.”
The Project Factory group executive director Guy Gadney said it worked with scriptwriters to produce the content that will include games and puzzles as well as revealing the thoughts and feelings of eight characters.
It will enable Seven to build a deeper engagement with fans while the show is off air and give brands new ways to market, he said.
“TV audiences invest so much time watching their favourite show and it makes sense to continue their investment while shows are on a break,” Gadney said.
“Just because a show is off air does not mean fans lose interest. The platform addresses the audience’s need to keep engaged with a TV show while also providing a broadcaster with a marketing platform from which they can promote the show when it returns.”
The Project Factory was also behind a new companion app for BBC show Sherlock which reached the number one app spot in iTunes in the UK and 25 other countries earlier this year.
The app allowed fans of the series to solve 10 mysteries using a series of clues dotted throughout the game.
Steve Jones
I hate to start with a negative comment, but given 7 announced last week they were retiring Fango in order to release a single offering via the Plus7 app, having a standalone H&A app makes little sense (at least to me). It comes back to fragmentation – why not just have a consolidated presence in a single app? Choice is not always a good thing, and whilst this may be designed to appeal to the H&A ‘superfan’, you’re still asking them to jump through hoops to engage (namely, access the app store, install the app, access the app, play around with it etc etc)
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