Mobile Interactive Group consolidate, upgrade and rebrand global technology platform to mVoy

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), a mobile and digital technology business today announces the consolidation; upgrade and rebranding of its proprietary technology to one global platform ‘mVoy’.

To enable brands from all over the world to interact, engage and communicate with consumers via mobile, MIG’s mVoy platform incorporates multiple tools, products and technologies:

mVoy Publish provides retailers, brands, publishers and marketing agencies with a flexible product to design, build, manage and host mobile websites and apps, including fully transactional mCommerce services. It is the most powerful and intuitive product in the marketplace and is available to licence globally and also as a fully managed service. mVoy Publish integrates mobile into other communications channels such as SMS and social media.

mVoy Communicate provides brands, publishers and corporate enterprises with a flexible, web based product to build and manage, both inbound and outbound mobile marketing campaigns, such as sales promotions and content alerts, via SMS, email and various social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. mVoy Communicate integrates into your existing CRM system through full API connections, is available to license globally and also as a fully managed service.

mVoy Engage provides media, broadcast and entertainment companies with a definitive toolset to power social interactive formats and services to viewers: Formats and services range from high capacity, real-time SMS voting and competitions with participation TV shows through multiple platforms and devices, including iPhone, Android, RIM, Facebook, traditional web and mobile internet. Additionally mVoy Engage can run power both ‘free-to-consumer’ and ‘paid-for’ interactions via Premium SMS (PSMS), iTunes and Facebook Credits. Offered globally as a fully managed service, mVoy Engage is fully accessible via app, mobile internet, online and social networks.

mVoy Connect provides broadcasters, mobile network operators (MNO’s), social networks and others with mobile messaging, billing and payment solutions. It is the fastest SMS gateway in the industry, provides direct to MNO billing and is simple to use and integrates into other 3rd party platforms. The mVoy Connect technology is capable of processing in excess of 12,000 messages per second and is available as a fully managed service.

Barry Houlihan, CEO and Founder, Mobile Interactive Group commented “In today’s complex mobile value chain, we wanted to simplify MIG’s offering and make it easier for our clients, partners and the industry at large, to understand how MIG’s technology enables global businesses to interact and engage via mobile with one trusted partner.”

“MIG’s mVoy technology platform is available globally, giving us the flexibility required to respond to our clients ever changing requirements and locations. The individual products, Publish, Communicate, Engage and Connect provide our clients with a fully integrated toolset to utilise the mobile channel to raise brand awareness, drive customer acquisition and retention, manage and deliver complex mCRM campaigns, manage mobile payments and increase ROI.”

Big Brother 24-hour live feed scrapped in favour of Facebook app

The news was confirmed by digital director James Tatam, who said that Channel 5 and Endemol are instead working with mobile company Mobile Interactive Group on a Facebook application that delivers extra video content, news from the house and the ability to vote housemates off the show online.

Speaking on the move from 24-hour TV to Facebook highlights, Tatam said: ‘It has become clear over the last year that social media sits side by side with watching TV, more so than traditional websites ever have.’

Channel 5 is also hoping to ‘extend the use of the platform beyond video content’ with a Big Brother Twitter feed and mobile and iPad apps making use of its catch-up service Demand 5.

The new online eviction voting system will, according to New Media Age, see viewers use Facebook Credits to vote – which everyone uses… right?

Celebrity Big Brother will air on Channel 5 in August; the original format will follow it in September.

Mobile Interactive Group research highlights major opportunity in social media and participation TV services

Social Participation TV (S P-TV) will drive interactive behaviour to generate $2.9bn globally by 2016

London 19th July 2011: Mobile and digital technology business Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) today released a major research white paper on the trends and opportunities in participation TV (P-TV) services in particular social channels across global markets.

The research uncovers key technological and behavioural insights in to the entire P-TV value chain, from the types of devices that consumers use to interact with TV shows (tablet, internet, mobile, apps, SMS, fixed line) how they multi-task with them whilst watching TV and over which payment channels they prefer to purchase participation services such as voting and competitions.

It also interrogates mash-ups between established social media channels, in particular Twitter and Facebook, with TV and interactivity concluding that there is an emerging and potent P-TV model based on interactivity driven through social media – Social Participation TV, a new term identified by MIG.

Key research findings include:

• Mobile will become the main vehicle for interaction between viewer and broadcaster
• 40% of mobile users are most likely to be multi-tasking using their phone while watching the TV
• Smartphone adoption will drive TV and mobile multi-tasking in UK and US, creating a more engaged audience, and significantly increasing programme interaction
• The majority of multi-tasking occurs during the evenings and weekends during peak TV times when online browsing declines and mobile browsing grows
• Facebook will drive a shift in interactive audience behaviour away from phone calls and text with these channels becoming peripheral in the long term
• Facebook mobile now accounts for 50 % of its 700 million users globally. 67% of all respondents indicated that the internet is the ideal way to interact with TV shows with 50% of those indicating that Facebook would be their preferred channel to purchase and use participation TV services such as voting.
• Interactive events via Facebook are expected to generate $51.7 million (£32.04 million) in the UK by 2012 and $2.9 billion globally by 2016.

MIG’s global research into the Social Participation TV sector, incorporated qualitative and quantitative insights from The IAB and PhonePay Plus and Adfonic, and also drew conclusions from interviews conducted with 3,000 consumers in the UK.

Barry Houlihan, CEO, Mobile Interactive Group said: “Social participation TV is a huge opportunity for MIG and our broadcast partners, with mobile featuring as the key enabler and engagement tool. The mobile device is ingrained in our daily lives, and is rapidly becoming a core component in the ability to create an interaction between the viewer and the TV.”

For broadcasters, the direct consumer interaction can be the ideal opportunity to capture data, while Facebook presents an ideal viral opportunity. But it also highlights the need for every programme strategy to adopt a multi device and platform approach, to ensure maximum viewer reach and engagement.

As a medium, TV continues to be the biggest and best in terms of attracting a large audience; and mass P-TV shows like Big Brother remain the cornerstone for broadcasters in terms of interaction and entertainment, whilst also opening new revenue channels.

MIG’s technology platform ‘mVoy’ enables broadcasters, media and production companies from all over the world to interact, engage and communicate with viewers via any mobile device (incorporating the internet and Facebook). mVoy Engage also provides a definitive toolset to power social interactive formats including voting, polls and competitions, as well as credit based mobile payment solutions.