US Weekly Hot Hollywood Summer Event

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

Thanks to mobile phone-to-video technology from never.no, guests at today’s US Weekly Hot Hollywood Summer Event in Chicago will be able to broadcast their thoughts and opinions via text message and see the results onscreen in real time.

US Weekly will roll out the red carpet for readers, trendsetters, tastemakers, and advertisers in the Windy City on Thursday, 27th August and no, none us at DailyDOOH were invited – even though we offered to cover the event as press 🙁

Whilst US Weekly’s implementation of never.no’s Interactive Desk application is the first of its kind in the United States, it has been previously used successfully for several Digital Out of Home (DOOH) events in Europe — including stadium shows, music festivals, and television coverage of the Tour de France.

Lars Lauritzsen, never.no CEO told us “When it comes to enabling mobile phone and video to ‘talk’ to one another, never.no is the expert. US Weekly saw an innovative opportunity to use our DOOH technology to enliven its summer party by sparking conversation and fun — not to mention brand awareness.”

The never.no mobile-to-video platform enables audience participation either by integrating the live video stream with user-submitted opinions and content, or by turning the phone keypad into an active interface for playing games or other interaction.

What we especially like about the never.no system is that it is flexible enough to integrate with standard TV, Web, IPTV, DOOH and mobile content.

At the US Weekly event, the magazine will create 10 thought-provoking questions that guests can answer via SMS/text message AND in exchange, they will receive a sponsored return message. Meanwhile, the never.no Auto Dialog System (ADS) will tabulate guest responses and broadcast the results onscreen at the party.

“Almost everyone has a mobile phone,” Lauritzsen said. “Our technology transforms that phone into a universal interface to interactive content — including TV, web content and flash games — allowing everyone to participate, anywhere. We anticipate that many businesses and organizations will follow US Weekly’s lead and find innovative and exciting ways to take advantage of the technology.”

About never.no

never.no connects broadcasters, brands, outdoor media owners, and digital screen networks with online and mobile consumers. never.no’s interactive video platform enables audience participation by modifying the video stream based on live, user-submitted opinions and content. Able to function with traditional TV, Web TV, IPTV, and mobile TV platforms, the never.no product suite powers interactive TV formats and entire channels and allows viewers to participate through mobile phones and the Internet. With datacenters in Oslo, Los Angeles, and Dubai, never.no serves customers including broadcast, telco, and media companies worldwide.


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