The program “Countdown”, recognized by the Council of Europe as the most balanced talk show of the pre-election race, showed a new era of interactive television in action, where the viewer takes an active role. The VisionLINK platform made it possible to engage audiences of different age groups, from different regions of Ukraine, through various communication channels.
The program “Countdown”, recognized by the Council of Europe as the most balanced talk show of the pre-election race, showed a new era of interactive television in action, where the viewer takes an active role. The VisionLINK platform made it possible to engage audiences of different age groups, from different regions of Ukraine, through various communication channels.
Objective show, active audience
In the spring of 2019, the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) launched an innovative format of debates between presidential candidates: candidates with roughly equal ratings were invited to the studio, speeches were strictly timed, answers were immediately checked by experts, and the results were announced in the studio. Viewers could cast their votes via the website or by phone. The VisionLink system collected voting data from phone calls and the website, analyzed and displayed graphical results on studio screens, on air and on the website. All the voices of the viewers who actively participated in the most objective show of the election race showed the real opinion of the channel’s audience.
“The Countdown was broadcast on UA: Pershyi, UA: Krym, radio station UR-1, on YouTube and on UA:PBC’s Facebook page. After the presidential race, the project continued its work in the parliamentary elections. Newly elected MPs and other guests are now invited to the studio, and experts and viewers ask them questions.
- viewer voting via the website and by phone
- data aggregation and analysis
- integration with the broadcast graphics system
- instant display of graphical voting results on studio screens, on air, on the website
- attracting viewers of different age groups from different regions
Attack by bots
“To prevent multiple voting attempts from one number, the system responds to the second call with a reply: “Thank you, you have already voted.” All subsequent calls are simply dropped,” says Vitaly Zaikin, product manager at VisionLINK. “It was not without incident! During a debate with one of the candidates, who was connected to intelligence agencies, we overcame an attempt to rig the vote with thousands of bot calls that almost brought down the system. We figured it out in time and weeded out the fake votes.”
The future of an objective public TV show
“We want to continue our cooperation with Internews so that this program will be broadcast on a regular basis,” comments Kateryna Feleniuk, executive producer of The Countdown. “According to the results of the monitoring supported by the Council of Europe, “Countdown” was recognized as the most balanced talk show among 10 national channels. We are not tied to any oligarch or political force. We had impartial experts who asked questions of everyone equally. Yes, we have big competitors – commercial channels – but we are distinguished by our honesty. We have on our side impartiality, impartiality, professional qualifications of experts, and hosts who can express their opinions. We really wanted to engage the audience and add interactivity to the race, and we succeeded.”
The audience was involved in the show in the studio, via the website, and by phone. The studio has created favorable conditions for communication with the audience: viewers raise their hands and are given the opportunity to ask questions or speak out. During the show, a website with a poll is running, and viewers can vote online. For the older audience, especially in remote regions where the Internet is not easy to access, we provide telephone channels from Kyivstar, Vodafone and lifecell.
“It’s a very cool thing when viewers can influence what happens in the studio,” said Kateryna.
“VisionLink provides two-way communication between the TV channel and the viewer,” comments Vitaly Zaikin. “Television has changed and will never be the same again. The digital audience is growing, young people want to watch videos on mobile devices or on a computer, and the older generation is in no hurry to leave their favorite TV sets. Both want to make an impact! It’s good that there are shows that engage viewers of all ages in participation. We thank UA:PBC for their trust, admire the success of “Countdown” and wish the UA:PBC team new bright victories!”
Related project: VisionHOUSE studio installation for the presidential debates
