Introduction
Home to the UK’s favourite entertainment TV shows
Creator of global hits including Love Island, ITV is a £3.3 billion revenue media business going through a transformation. ITV’s strategic vision is “to be a digitally led media and entertainment company that creates and brings our brilliant content to audiences wherever, whenever and however they choose”.
Over the last decade the business has positioned itself as the most interactive broadcaster. Involving audiences via voting, play-along gaming and competitions brought audiences closer to ITV shows, giving rise to dedicated TV companion apps for Britain’s Got Talent, and This Morning.
Garnering millions of users, these apps turned from engagement tools into direct revenue generators thanks to special brand partnerships and advertising formats which differentiated the advertiser offering from other TV platforms and social networks.
The Challenge
Scaling up and montetising TV Show Apps
ITV’s initial approach to audience interaction and TV show apps did not scale. The delivery model was a mix of outsourced app development and infrastructure management, sourced from multiple suppliers and managed internally. It produced largely bespoke app products for each show which were costly and time consuming to maintain and relaunch every season. Once launched, apps were lacking in flexibility and the last-minute nature of the sales model meant that opportunities were being lost to respond to brand requests.
They wanted a single-sourced solution that was creatively flexible, self-serve, reliable and fast to deploy. They needed a way to scale apps globally with technology which supported multiple languages. Pushing creative and commercial boundaries takes collaboration - they needed a robust and flexible platform, but one that also came with the support of a team who understood entertainment and sport. They wanted a way to unlock new revenues. They wanted a partner they could trust.
ITV approached Monterosa to explore the Monterosa / Interaction Cloud™ as a business-wide platform solution. After a competitive process involving deep discovery, technical analysis and creative process, Monterosa was chosen to deliver a first proof-of-concept. But this would not be a low-key trial, they chose the biggest show and the biggest app they had: Reality favourite I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, hosted by Ant & Dec.
Solution
Dynamic, profitable, self service apps for every TV show
With weeks before the first launch in 2016, the Monterosa team accelerated the release of Fan Companion - at the time our new native app framework for entertainment and sports. We tailored it to the I’m a Celebrity branding with a host of special interactive and gamification features that would refresh the audience experience. We even added an 8-bit game, folded into the app.
Running on the Monterosa / Interaction Cloud™ platform, the SaaS solution for large-scale interactivity, Fan Companion provided real-time interactive content management to ITV’s internal teams, their own production partners including Fremantle and Syco. Training ensured they would be able to manage the experience themselves, with only light support required.
The show went live and ITV held their collective breath while the first spikes of user engagement took place. It worked.
The trial was a resounding success, the I’m a Celebrity app hit the #1 spot in the App and Play Stores and led to an ongoing relationship that has grown, continuously delivered, and is now in its fourth continuous year.
Results
Delivering on ITV’s goals
Since proving the solution, the Monterosa TV Show App solution has been in constant demand, making ITV’s biggest properties more interactive, engaging and more profitable. Together we have pioneered the world-class approach to converting passive TV engagement to new digital revenues while helping content creators enjoy new levels of possibility:
Blanket popularity with 10+ #1 Apps
Billions more interactions
Delivering over £22.5 million in sponsorship revenue
Setting the global standard for integrated eCommerce - Monterosa proactively created and operates the official Love Island and I’m a Celebrity stores, seamlessly integrated into apps. Love Island alone has generated over 600,000 direct unit sales including the famous Love Island water bottle.
Together we have generated a set of innovative new conversion formats including “Click to Buy”, utilised by Missguided to send fashion sales soaring by 9000% in one week. Other global and national brands that have benefitted include Just Eat, Uber Eats, Marks & Spencer, Samsung, Beats, Missguided, I Saw It First and scores more.
£22.5m
merchandise revenue across all shows
10m+
Users per year
“The Love Island App was one of the most successful apps ITV has ever launched. By engaging young audiences with a natural, fun, energetic app, Monterosa helped keep the show front of mind throughout the series, over-delivering on all key audience, commercial and sponsor objectives.”
Product Lead, Digital Products ITV News & Shows
