Interactivity

This has been a very attractive business model for mass communications media such as television, radio and the general press ever since the appearance of SMS Premium. It provides a way of charging for space that would otherwise have been difficult to capitalize on ,and it has also provided television viewers with value added, because the mobile telephone allows them to participate in programs in real time. A wide range of features from votes for reality show favorites through messages to chat show participants, games, rankings and so on have positioned SMS premium applications as a natural medium for people to become active players where they were once merely passive viewers.

The Atinco platform has been used in Spain since the emergence of interactivity in the communications media. The versatility of the platform has spurred the development of all kinds of products; it provides support for large surges of demand and offers mechanisms for real time collection of statistics integrated with producer continuities.

The products commercialized by Atinco include the following.

Participation

Users participate in votes, thermometers, rankings, etc. in TV and radio programs and in the press. Participation may take multiple forms:

• Votes.- Participation via questions and/or debates with A / B / C / D type responses.
• Quizz.- Games based on YES / NO answers.
• Thermometers.- Small banners showing the results of votes in real time.
• Rankings.- Application allowing rankings of personalities, teams, songs, etc.

Community services

These services include all kinds of services in which the users of a community can participate, such as chats overwritten on music programs, dedications, opinions, etc. Some examples are as follows:

• Chat banner.- A banner is displayed on the screen where users can send their messages and interact. These are typically used in TV programs aimed at younger audiences.
• Opinions.- Messages sent by viewers on a given subject, which are overwritten on the screen during the program. In radio shows, the presenter reads the most interesting messages.
• Dedications.- Used for music video dedications, birthday greetings, anniversaries and so on.
• TV Chat.- Channel chat, thematic chats, teletext chats, etc.
• Video Chat.- This service contains a rescaled video that does not take up the full screen. The part that is not taken up by the video is used as the chat panel.

SMS Games

SMS games allow users to take part in games proposed on TV channels. They are usually found on private television stations, where the surplus of low-yield airtime makes it possible to use one or more channels to launch games of this kind, which are a mixture of entertainment and interactive TV.