Sky Interactive - How Gay Are You?

Service:	Interactive application to enhance TV show, “How Gay Are You?”
Production company:	Granada Media
Channel:	Sky One
Launch:	May 2004, three-part series
Show proposition:	Factual entertainment
Brief:	Put interactivity at the heart of the show
Solution:	Viewers were invited to press the red button to test their "gayness" and contribute to the Big Gay Poll
Solution:	Viewers sent messages to screen via their mobile phone
Result:	20 per cent of viewers played along and submitted a score to the Big Gay Poll

The tongue-in-cheek series “How Gay Are You?” invited male viewers to press the red button on their remote and answer questions to establish their level of “gayness”. This is a great example of what can be achieved if series producers work alongside enhanced TV producers from the point of commissioning.

The overall objectives were to:

Put interactivity at the heart of the show
Increase viewer loyalty by encouraging viewers to participate
Boost ratings
Create a countrywide survey of “gayness”

The enhanced TV producers at Sky Interactive worked with Granada to devise a set of questions per episode for the Big Gay Poll. The advice of Sky Interactive's editorial team was critical at this stage, as too many questions, or questions that were too long, would have irritated the viewers.

During each broadcast viewers could press the red button on their remote control to play along and receive their personal “gayness” rating. The results were also pooled to produce regional comparisons throughout the UK. Viewers could also send messages to appear on screen using their mobile phones.

During the series finale, a bespoke system developed by Sky Interactive identified trends in viewer responses to identify the most and least gay areas of the UK.

An impressive 20 per cent of viewers played along and submitted a score to the Big Gay Poll.