In a world first, M-Net`s Reality TV programme Big Brother has voice-enabled its Web site, www.bigbrothersa.com with SpeecHTML, a speech recognition solution from Intelleca.
The service gives the South African public 24-hour telephone access to the latest news on developments in the Big Brother household by calling 082 17 BIG (082 17 244).
"Big Brother is a show run by the public," says Richard Fyffe, GM of Oracle On-Line Sales, the Internet advertising sales organisation that selected SpeecHTML to power Big Brother`s voice portal. "It is an interactive, multi-platformed, cross-media event. South Africans can now watch the programme on television, view video streams and show highlights on the Internet, receive updates via SMS and e-mail, and browse the Web site via telephone."
Big Brother has been aired in 18 countries, drawing more than 2 billion viewers, but the South African series is the first to have a voice-enabled Web site. Fyffe notes that the voice portal is a natural extension of the programme`s multi-platform environment, and is another means of providing multiple opportunities for the public to interact with the participants, and keep in touch with the daily goings on throughout the 106-day duration of the show.
The voice portal gives callers access to news, information on the tasks that Big Brother sets for each housemate, the latest update on viewers` voting polls, and housemate profiles. Because callers can call from anywhere, the Web site is accessible to those who do not have access to a PC.
Big Brother kicked off on Sunday, 26 August. Over 165 000 people have registered with the Big Brother community since the show went live, more than 45 million ad impressions have been served, and over 1.1 million Microsoft webstreams initiated.
"As part of a complete interactive solution, SpeecHTML means anyone with a cellphone or telephone can access the Big Brother Web site," says Mike Renzon, executive director at Intelleca. "News is updated as the Web site is updated and navigation is executed via voice commands. This allows Big Brother to leverage existing content and extend it to the world of telephony."
The SpeecHTML gateway connects telephone calls with the Big Brother Web site, accesses and retrieves the site data, and then supplies it to the caller after it is converted by a text-to-speech conversion engine. Callers feed information back to the Web site through an interactive, voice-based menu system.
Intelleca offers the SpeecHTML solution on an application service provider (ASP) basis for companies that do not want to buy the solution outright and host it on their own infrastructure. The SpeecHTML managed service extends existing online services without the site owner or customer having to buy additional hardware or software. The service is also available on an on-site purchase basis.
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