• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

To drive new viewer engagement for brands and advertisers, Netflix is launching a series featuring real-time viewers voting for live competition shows -- and for other content in the future, the company says.

Netflix began testing real-time voting earlier this year with a live cooking show in August -- “Dinner Time Live with David Chang.”

The effort will begin with “Star Search,” a relaunch of the 1980s/early 1990s talent competition show that Netflix is starting up next year.

Elizabeth Stone, chief technology officer of Netflix, said at a TechCrunch event on Tuesday: “If you’re sitting at home watching 'Star Search' on your TV, you’ll be able to [vote] either on the TV or your mobile phone actually... that advances or doesn’t advance some of the contestants on the show.”

Viewers will have a limited time to vote, and may not be able to vote depending on the delay in viewing the live show.

Stone says viewers' voter engagement will enhance user interactivity because viewers “actually feel like they’re part of the story, influence the storyline, and feel immersed in that.”

TV networks have regularly had real-time voting for mostly live competition shows such as NBC’s “The Voice” and ABC’s “American Idol” as well as “Dancing With The Stars,” where viewers can text with mobile phones or vote with messaging on websites and social media platforms.

Netflix wants to go further -- looking to use its real-time voting technology across a broad range of content, not just competition-show content.

For the "Dinner Time" cooking show, viewers were asked what their preference was for specific types of sandwiches -- tuna or grilled cheese -- and whether soups are better than salads.

Netflix will also test real-time voting for new TV formats such as “Party Games,” which enables viewers to go to a "Games" tab on the Netflix TV app where they select a game and use their phone as the controller. 

Netflix also wants to start up real-time voting for its growing video podcast content.