case study

Proteus Helps HGTV Use Mobile to Engage Viewers and Generate Revenue through Sponsored Messaging


Challenge


Scripps/HGTV

In an effort to capitalize on its popular reality show HGTV Design Star and to further engage its audience in the outcome of the program, Scripps Networks wanted to include a mobile voting component during Design Star's final week, through which users could determine the winner by voting via text message on their mobile phones.

Additionally, HGTV and Scripps Networks were looking for a way to take advantage of the expected high volume of SMS votes by incorporating one of the program's sponsors into the mobile portion of the program.

Solution

Having worked with mobile marketing partner Proteus on past SMS initiatives, HGTV utilized Proteus' SMS polling application, which has a proven track record of supporting high-traffic live network voting, to capture SMS votes from viewers.

Users could submit their picks for the Design Star Season 2 winner by texting A or B to HGTV's short code, 44881 (HGTV1). HGTV included a sponsor mention in the SMS "thank you" reply to each text vote and, through Proteus' SMS Auto Response feature, gave users the opportunity to opt in to an additional dedicated message from the program's sponsor, creating more impressions for Design Star's sponsorship partner and additional advertising revenue for Scripps Networks.

Results

  • More than 300,000 total SMS votes were received during the three-day finale voting window, with each reply containing a mention of the program's sponsor and instructions on how to reply for a dedicated sponsor text message.
  • More than 67,000 unique viewers voted and saw the sponsor's message in their "thank you" text replies.
  • Approximately 7% of users who voted requested the additional dedicated sponsor message, creating nearly 5,000 additional SMS impressions for the program's sponsor.

By giving its audience a hand in the outcome of the Design Star finale, Scripps Networks and HGTV were able to incorporate marketing messaging into an SMS initiative that already had value to its audience, thereby creating significant additional visibility for Design Star's sponsor, while simultaneously providing a fun way for viewers to participate in and engage with the program.

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