Television broadcasters are developing a considerable number of transmedia projects in which the viewer’s action is at the heart of the concept. The rise of Artificial Intelligences gives way to a multiplicity of narrative possibilities.

New possibility with digital series

Social media are deeply changing digital series’ narrative form. Content makers are playing on the immediacy given by the tool.In Portugal, RTP and BeActive Entertainment produced “Amnésia” available on RTP Play. The drama centres on Joana Almeida, a successful young blogger, who one morning wakes up to find her boyfriend Carlos dead by her side. The appeal of the show resides in Joana Almeida’s traumatic amnesia. The creators worked on daily publications on the Instagram account to help viewers make up their minds about the culprit. The Stories feature enabled them to publish exclusive elements that disappeared after 24 hours. They focused on its immediate potential for involvement rather than a long-term enhanced narrative.

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Social interactions for additional content

Nevertheless, television broadcasters can also play both sides. They can rely on these immediate interactions on social media and progressively add content to the main narrative leading to a popular classic drama. In Norway, NRK P3 launched “Skam”, a transmedia scripted series aimed at young adults. The series takes place in real time dropping scenes on the programme’s website, at the same time as they happen in the fictitious world created by the series. At the end of the week, all the scenes are put together and broadcast on television as one episode. This concept is adapted in France, Finland, the Netherlands and the United States for Facebook Watch.

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This strategy was also used by RTVE in Spain with the mini series “Si Fueras Tú” which tells the story of a 17-year-old girl who moves with her uncle in a new town. Once she steps into the school, she realises that she looks exactly like a girl who disappeared 6 months ago. At the end of each episode, the main character Alba, has to choose from two options, which gives viewers 24 hours to vote. At the end of the series, the Spanish channel La 1 broadcast the final movie. The show is an adaptation of a New Zealand web series Reservoir Hill.

A collaborative storytelling with Artificial Intelligence

Beyond interactions on social media, Artificial Intelligence enables to build a collaborative storytelling with the help of the user. “The Inspection Chamber” is an interactive science fiction story that relies on the audio output of the Amazon home speaker, Alexa. Thanks to the device’s ability to capture external voices and engage in conversation, the listener finds himself wrapped up in the narrative without realising that he is the one making the story. The audio story is available via platforms BBC Taster and the Alexa Skill Store.

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Television broadcasters are more and more betting on viewers’ enthusiasm for live interactions and new ways of experiencing storytelling. The rise of Artificial Intelligences gives way to a multiplicity of narrative possibilities.

All the facts and figures of these programmes (and much more!) can be found in the 4-Screen Quarterly Report, Edition 4 2017. The report was released in February 2017. For further information, please contact us!

Source: Eurodata TV – 4Screen Quarterly report 2017 – Edition 4 / Relevant Partners