News

1 July 2011

ENDEMOL LAUNCHES 'BIG BROTHER' VOTING ON FACEBOOK ® WITH CREDITS

Starting immediately, viewers are able to vote online for the contestant that they would like to see leave the “Big Brother” house in Germany. Endemol Germany has developed one of the first Face-book voting applications worldwide using Facebook credits.

Who will stay and who will go? For the first time ever, fans of the German "Big Brother" can now decide using Facebook. Endemol in cooperation with plazz entertainment AG has devel-oped one of the first voting applications worldwide integrating Facebook credits. The app makes it possible for all fans of the reality TV show on Facebook to take part in the weekly voting at www.facebook.com/BigBrotherDeutschland by using Facebook credits. Up until now viewers have only been able to place their votes by calling in or sending text messages.

"Being able to vote using Facebook will give 'Big Brother' fans a whole new way to get involved in the deci-sion about who leaves the house," said Dr Georg Ramme, Head of Commercial at Endemol Germany. "The Facebook voting app is designed for a generation of fans who have grown up with social media, regularly chat about reality TV on Facebook and comment on events in these programmes. It is this usage of social media that made us decide to expand online offers for our popular TV programmes."

"On a daily basis we see millions of people engaging with their favourite TV shows via Facebook. Produc-ers like Endemol and Broadcasters like RTL II now start to discover ways how to expand this engagement. The 'Big Brother' voting application is an innovative way for viewers to support their favorite candidates via Facebook and we are excited to see Endemol and RTL II bring it to market", states Christian Hernandez, Director Business Development at Facebook.

Endemol developed the app with plazz entertainment AG, a specialist for app development and Facebook credits. Endemol will be responsible for content management and editorial maintenance of the site. For seven Facebook credits per vote (which is about 49 cents) all users aged 18 and over can take part in the 'Big Brother' vote by deciding on the contestant they want to see go and clicking "Out". Payment is made via the network's currency, Facebook credits, which can be purchased via direct debit, credit card or PayPal.

Endemol has in the past also offered free voting initiatives to let viewers get involved in the goings-on in the 11th season of 'Big Brother' in Germany. People were allowed to decide, for example, which song should be played for the contestants to wake up to. Endemol is also looking at rolling out this app or similar premium voting applications across some of the 31 markets where it operates and distributes its properties.