How enhanced programming can save TV, cable

Ensequence wants to keep the audience tuned into TV, cable, and away from the Web

In this interview, Bambi Francisco caught up with Dalen Harrison and asked the entrepreneur to demonstrate enhanced programming. Harrison is the CEO of Ensequence, the interactive television company that's trying to make cable and television programming interactive.

BF: So I'm here with Dalen Harrison , CEO of Ensequence. These are exciting times for you. How many more households will you be able to reach out to?

DH: This year our cable distribution will be 23 million homes, and there are another 30 million satellite homes that are enabled for interactive TV. Plus IPT homes like Verizon and AT&T, and over 55 million homes enabling in the United States this year.

BF: And that is basically your market opportunity. You're looking for programmers and networks and advertisers? So you're working with MTV and you're going to show me an example of enhanced programming.

DH: This is an example of the enhanced programming. We also do enhancing advertising as well as play along games,voting,polling, and those kinds of things. If you're watching the video game awards on Spike and you go interactive and you're never missing any of the television programming itself.You're able to have a menu of  fun things to do during the show. You can look up the video cheat codes for various video games.This program in particular is designed for the video game aficionado and so you can look for cheap codes.You can go to the vault to find out the previous winners and find out who is winning the awards tonight and again never missing any of the show.You're always enabled to go full screen if you just want to watch the show.

BF: And you have the statistics on this? On who exactly is engaging?

DH: Absolutely. That's a really important point in which Ensequence brings together the reach and branding power of television with the accountability and the immeasurably with the internet so that programmers know exactly what consumers are doing.

BF: So what is the percentage of the audience on average who interact with these?

DH: With enhanced programming and advertising, we rarely get below 20% of the viewing audience that has the ability to go interactive. So over 20% of the audience that go interactive usually does.In this case and in this example of this 2 hour show, we had 25 % of the audience go and be interactive for about a half hour on the show.

BF: And what is the make up of those people who have interacted?

DH: You know, it's an average of the viewers so you get a cross section of who is actually watching. This is just digital television at its best.

BF: So what are you doing for MTV here? For MTV, they can go to an advertiser or their advertiser and they  can place your ad on the little enhanced games that you're offering so they could maintain the same advertising spent.

DH: There is an advertising location that you can place during the interactive.You could also make your actual ad spots interactive and so there are plenty of options.

BF: So there's additional advertising inventory for these networks. So your job is to keep that 70 billion that's going into television today.

DH: Take it from 70 to 90 billion

BF: Ok you're their best friend

DH: That's right

BF: Cool, at least you want to be. Good luck to you.