BBC’s The Voice UK (a Talpa-owned format) is now coming up to its sixth week of TX and despite the series not yet concluding, the social media campaign has already been a roaring success. With the @BBCTheVoiceUK Twitter account attracting over 110k followers, the show’s Facebook page recruiting over 70k likes and over twelve million views on The Voice UK’s YouTube playlist, Wall to Wall is now looking to increase the social media presence around the upcoming Live shows.
As The Voice UK’s Live shows kick off on 28 April, Wall to Wall’s Kat Hebden will continue to produce and oversee the series’ digital strategy alongside the BBC’s editorial lead Sarah Clay. In line with the additional social media elements planned for the Live shows, Wall to Wall has also appointed IMImobile (responsible for social media interaction on Got to Dance) and Cat and Mouse (studio graphic designer for Strictly Come Dancing and Million Pound Drop). Both companies are responsible for designing the graphics within the social media room and IMImobile, in conjunction with Connect Four Productions will be providing all live social media integration.
From this weekend, Reggie Yates continues to front the blog and will be responsible for presenting from the The Voice UK’s social media room, where he will encourage viewers to engage directly with the show via social media. The Voice UK’s artists will also make appearances within the social media room to encourage further engagement with their team’s hashtags and individual Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. To maximise engagement, IMImobile’s Multi-Media Console (MMC) will be used to aggregate all incoming social media content and display it live on the social media room’s plasma screens. By allowing viewers to send messages via various social media platforms and the BBC website, the audience is given the ability to engage directly with the coaches and artists during the live show. In addition, viewers who engage via social media will be displayed on a huge photo mosaic. Representing a global first in terms of social media being integrated into TV in this way, the mosaic will allow the viewer to be physically represented directly within the shows editorial.
During the final six weeks of The Voice UK, the digital team will continue to capitalise on the show’s phenomenal Twitter following, which helped the show achieve over 400,000 Tweets during the TX period on Saturday. Although Telegraph Hill’s team will continue with @BBCTheVoiceUK’s successfully cheeky tone, the feed will begin to emphasise the team’s knowledge of the vocal profession by using relevant musical terms as well as building on the drama of the live shows. The aim is to continue to create stand-out content that not only recreates a recognisable brand but one that audiences identify with and want to return to.
Currently serving as the BBC’s highest performing programme site, www.bbc.co.uk/thevoiceuk will continue to deliver high quality content which consists of Reggie’s blog, exclusive high quality video content and images and clips from each episode.
The digital strategy is developed by Talpa Digital and operational in 25 countries at the moment.
Kat Hebden, Multiplatform Producer, Wall to Wall: “It’s great to see the integrated digital strategy paying off as viewers in their hundreds of thousands engage across a number of platforms. The Twitter stats alone are a testament to how successful the content is and how engaged the audience have become.”
Sarah Clay, BBC Online Exec: “The V room rewards online fans of the Voice UK by giving them a direct route into the live shows. Giving them access to talent, showcasing the conversation and putting social media at the very heart of a primetime BBC One show was our goal. It’s hugely exciting to see it coming to fruition.”
Jay Patel, Managing Director IMImobile said, "We are excited to provide the real-time social media integration for a high profile show like The Voice UK. Our market-leading Multi-Media Console is at the heart of the audience engagement allowing the production team to select and publish live Twitter and Facebook comments onto the social media room’s plasma screens."
