• by Peter Low , March 16, 2009

When MTV's "The Real World" first aired in 1992, it was by and large considered a provocative experiment. Viacom visionaries believed that putting seven strangers into a house and taping their lives 24/7 would create a compelling hour of television.

In hindsight, MTV did much more than launch a unique television series -- it launched a genre that would come to be known as reality TV. For years, "The Real World" was the staple of this movement. Other networks took a stab at duplicating MTV's success, but most reality pilots debuted to little or no accolades. It took several years for reality TV to catch on. In fact, it wasn't until the debut of "Survivor" and "American Idol," that reality TV became a mainstream genre.

There is a lot in common with the evolution of reality TV and interactive television. Interactive television was also introduced as a promising experiment that could change the TV industry forever. But interactive television never had the chance to realize its full potential...until now.

There were many obstacles standing in the way of interactive television becoming a reality. The first was the fact that creating an interactive television experience used to be incredibly difficult and time consuming. The second was that in order to interact with these experiences, consumers often had to go out and buy special hardware - something which most weren't willing to do. And the final obstacle was the fact that because each cable and satellite distributor's system was so different, it was nearly impossible to create an interactive television experience once and deploy it across multiple distributors' systems simultaneously.

Despite its barriers, reality TV finally rose to prominence thanks to several pieces finally falling into place: viewer acceptance, advertiser readiness, hit shows. Now, interactive TV is predicted to hit its perfect storm to reach critical mass in 2009.

For the first time, programmers and advertisers are able to create interactive television experiences in a fraction of the time it used to take and they can deploy these experiences across multiple platforms simultaneously. Consumers don't have to purchase special equipment -- they can go interactive using their existing digital set-top-box and remote control. And over 32 million households in the U.S. already have the ability to go interactive.(This number could quickly double according to an SNL Kagan report that expects up to 25 million new cable-enabled homes to become interactive by year's end.)

Other significant developments prompting the mainstream adoption of interactive television include:

• Cable and IPTV distributors are increasingly embracing and implementing interactivity thanks to the adoption of EBIF standards, Tru2Way technology and the formation of Canoe Ventures, the US cable industry's joint venture to create a national unified platform for interactive television.

• The shift of ad dollars to the Internet has created an "interactive" spark amongst advertisers and programmers who require new and creative ways to engage audiences -- ESPN, for example, has promised to roll out three new interactive features by June 2009 & NBC aired an interactive version of the 2008 Olympics on DISH Network.

• Audiences are ready: a Harris Interactive survey recently reported that 66% of television audiences said they would interact with television commercials and 72% of audiences said they would interact with reality TV shows.

The "Real" benefits of Interactive Television

For advertisers, interactive television can create experiences that powerfully engage consumers, maximize advertising spend, build brands and provide measurable results. And according to Continental Research, interactive television increases brand awareness by up to 70% and consumers who engage with interactive television advertising are twice as likely to make purchases.

Programmers and other content creators can better exploit the value of their television content through deeper audience engagement. On average, interactive TV has a 20% opt in rate and viewers spend 20% more time on-channel with interactive TV programming.

It took awhile for reality TV to come into its own, but once it did, it became part of American culture. Much like reality TV, interactive television is only a click of a button away from entering into the mainstream. For the first time, distributors, advertisers, programmers and viewers are all on board and excited by the advantages interactive television has to offer. Perhaps next season's hottest reality shows will offer a different type of reality to their viewers -- an interactive one.