Channel 4 to air exclusive Dawn of the Planet of the Apes footage

20 June 2014

Real-time viewer Twitter poll to dictate ad break content

In a UK broadcasting first, Channel 4 will air an exclusive  preview of 20th Century Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in an entire ad break takeover and then invite viewers to vote which further exclusive clip they would like to see broadcast in the very next break, via Twitter.

The initial takeover, which has been devised and developed with media agency Vizeum, will take place at approximately 9.27pm on Saturday 21st June 2014 in the first ad break of the UK premiere of The Hunger Games on Channel 4.

As the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes exclusive is introduced viewers will be told to stay tuned until the end of the break to vote for which exclusive clip from the film they’d like to see in the next ad break.

A call to action at the end of the break will ask viewers to cast their votes for one of two pieces of exclusive content they’d like to see in the next break by tweeting either #Humanstory or #Apesstory to @ApesMoviesUK.

Votes will be counted in real-time over the following 15 minutes. The next ad break will open with a live voice over announcing the winning content and introducing the further 60 second exclusive.

The six figure partnership was brokered by Melanie Ball, Partnerships Account Manager at Channel 4 and Robbie Ashcroft Creative Solutions Manager at Vizeum.

International creative agency Create has produced the ads.

Sarah Francis, Media Promotions Manager, 20th Century Fox said: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a huge release for us, we needed a big standout idea and Channel 4 have again delivered. We are absolutely delighted with this activity.”

Angus Mitchell, Agency Principal, Channel 4 said: “Fox were looking for an innovative way to launch Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and by utilising the immediacy of Twitter in terms of feedback, we are letting the viewer take control and decide what they see. We’re really pleased to be working with Fox again. The fantastic campaigns we are producing together show what true collaboration can deliver.”

Chrissy Totty, Head of Innovation, Vizeum said: “This ad break takeover offers Fox the opportunity broadcast immersive content through a real-time activation that uses social media in a truly unique way. Once again, we’re grateful to have worked with Channel 4 to give film fans the opportunity to shape the content around what they want to see.”

Ends.