Case Study - London TV

Background:
Produced by the etv media group, London TV is commissioned by Visit London, formerly the London Tourist Board. The channel is one of the key marketing routes used to promote the city and highlights the variety of events and attractions that are available in London, be it West End and fringe theatre productions, live bands, concerts & gigs, museums, clubs, restaurants, comedy nights, tourist attractions, sports or shopping.

Originally aired on the Sky Digital platform, London TV is now a full broadband service and is available on Visit London’s website (www.visitlondon.com). The channel has also been expanded to a number of other distribution platforms including hotels, taxis, buses and airlines.

Objectives:

• Showcase London through entertaining and informative programming
• Provide an easy to use and accessible service
• Profile London to Londoners, the UK regions and internationally

Mechanic:
The etv media group has taken a holistic approach to its broadband TV content. Our back catalogue of programmes has been re-versioned to provide a large amount of short form videos, designed to deliver information and entertainment in a snappy and attractive manner.

Working with Narrowstep, we have designed a system that appeals to a broad audience, and provides simple usability. We have a unique booking system to support each video; as a user views a VT, a small window provides a link to further information about the subject matter and gives the opportunity to directly book tickets without leaving the player. This is an area of primary importance to Visit London and is used as a device to bring the broadband TV content and web content together as one service. For example, users can watch a video for a particular restaurant, view its location, nearest train station and book a table directly through the player, often with just one click.

This approach gives us the freedom to be creative with our content and means that the whole experience for the user is both entertaining and informative. A colour coded channel system, consistent with Visit London’s brand communications, helps the audience recognise the key themes (ie shopping, eating out, attractions) covered across the entire website.

Other distribution channels:

• London TV is currently seen in 5000 hotel rooms across the capital, and we’ve just entered into a partnership with an American company, Europe Explorer TV, to expand our distribution to 20,000 additional hotel rooms in 2008, and 40,000 in 2009.
• London TV plays in the back of taxis using CabVision, reaching 1.4 million passengers per month.
• London TV is carried on Virgin Atlantic and British Airways inbound flights, directly targeting visitors to the capital.
• London TV is available on Heathrow Express trains coming into London, and between terminals, targeting 200,000 passengers per month.
• London TV plays can be seen in 600 travel agents around the UK on the Travel TV channel.
• London TV videos can be viewed on You Tube and Blink.com
• London TV has plans to expand to mobile phones and MP3 players, demonstrating its commitment to a digital future for the delivery of visitor information.

Results:
The London TV online service is proving immensely successful and provides inspirational and informative content for the website, which records around 1.8 million page impressions each week, and 1 million unique visitors per month. The service has been well received and was recently short listed for Broadcast Magazine’s Best Use of Broadband Award.