MTV goes interactive with Preloaded input

Preloaded has created initial design concepts for the look and feel of MTV’s interactive TV offering, MTVi, which is scheduled to launch early next year.

The six-figure project includes the creation, in conjunction with MTV’s design development department, of a name, strategy, brand identity and positioning for the service, says Preloaded director Paul Canty.

The aim is to ensure that the ‘enhanced’ interactive service is fully integrated with the music channel’s broadcast offering, he adds.

An interactive service was ‘trialled’ at the MTV European Music Awards in November, where viewers could vote for winners, rate singers’ performances and get the latest news.

The success of the embryonic service has led to its full-scale development, says MTVi managing director Chris Sice.

MTV received about 710 000 votes over three and a half days and the awards scored their highest ratings ever, according to Sice.

MTVi should enable viewers to vote for videos, take part in quizzes and competitions and, ultimately, order and buy music videos on-line, he says.

Preloaded was briefed to mirror MTV’s ‘pioneering, ball-breaking’ design style, says Sice. ‘The real challenge with interactive TV is that the design scope can be limited because of high technical specifications, which we wanted to overcome,’ he adds.

Preloaded won the work after a creative pitch against ‘half a dozen’ groups that Sice refuses to name.

It marks the start of an on-going relationship with MTV to be involved in all areas of the content, functionality, design and development of MTVi, Canty adds.

Enhanced TV technology is a rapidly growing sector and has great potential, such as retail and viewer interaction, he says.

‘We will be working with all the key MTV departments, which means we will be able to push the medium further and deliver a service that is integrated with all of MTV’s programming,’ he adds.