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Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Communication and Mass Media, May 22-24, 2006, Athens, Greece.

The experience of entertainment in an

interactive television show

Sperring Susanne, Planning Officer, PhD-student Åbo Akademi University, MediaCity iDTV Lab, Vaasa, Finland.

E-mail: susanne.sperring@abo.fi

Strandvall Tommy, Manager, PhD-student Åbo Akademi University, MediaCity iDTV Lab, Vaasa, Finland.

E-mail: tommy.strandvall@abo.fi Abstract

Aristotle acknowledged 2 300 years ago the importance of leisure and the art of

storytelling, thus the appreciation of pleasure and entertainment is not a new phenomena. Today we live in an entertainment society and entertainment witnesses a renaissance, growing in importance to people all over the world. We address the role of entertainment and enjoyment of an interactive TV quiz show in our audience study presented in this paper. The studied TV program is a cross media, interactive, play-along quiz show TV format with fully synchronized and integrated MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) and Mobile Java interactivity. In all, 35 evaluators participated in the study which was conducted in the audience research laboratory iDTV Lab in Finland. The study combines a wide range of methods including questionnaires, interviews, observations, eye tracking data and psycho physiological data. We ascertain that the integrated interactivity in the game show adds value to the viewing experience. The interactive feature raises the attention level and the degree of involvement and intensifies the feeling of enjoyment and excitement. Consequently, it appears that the play-along game show does benefit from interactivity as it adds value to the participating viewers. All the evaluators consuming the quiz show both interactively and in a traditional, passive manner, state that the interactive version is more entertaining, thus manifesting a new aspect of entertainment and TV content where the audience itself is actively participating in the pleasure experience and the amusing content unfolding on the screen. The conclusion that could be drawn from the present study is that entertainment indeed represents an essential raw material in a TV program and that interactivity can enhance the feeling of being entertained.

Keywords: Audience research, interactive television, enjoyment, viewing

experience, entertainment

1. Introduction Although the academic interest in entertainment is only some three decades old,

enjoyment and amusement has played a predominant role in human societies throughout the history. About 2 300 years ago, Aristotle acknowledged that mimesis, or “imitation of an action”, is an essential part of the human nature, granting human beings knowledge. Furthermore, he states, all human beings find pleasure in drama

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(2000). The notion of interactive entertainment, receiving a lot of attention today, is not a very recent invention either. The gladiator performances held in ancient Rome had interactive features as the audience could influence the destiny of the fighters, i.e. decided whether they lived or died.

Today, entertainment is still very much abundant, ubiquitous and easily accessible. We live in an entertainment society where almost everything is entertainment and entertainment is everywhere (according to Neil Postman (1986) sometimes at the expense of content). This is particularly the case in the West, where the 21st century consumers looking for amusement to fill their leisure time with, may choose from a vast range of performances, media and experiences. Entertainment is currently the fastest-growing sector of the global economy. In the U.S., there is currently a high growth in the consumer end-user spending on media, such as the interactive television and the Internet. Expressed in figures, the counter stops at $186.30 billion in 2004 and an estimated $199 billion in 2005. The disbursement of the American consumers on media is forecast to increase at an annual rate of approximately 6 % over the next years, whereby the average annual consumer spending is estimated to enter the threshold of $1000 in 2009 (Communications Industry Forecast Highlights, 2005). This means that of the annual household expenditures in the US, some 5,4% goes to entertainment (Sayre & King, 2003).

A glimpse at the Finnish conditions reveals that the penetration of media equipment is quite high. For example in the year 2005, 93 % of the Finns owned a TV set, 43% had a DVD player at their disposal, 24 % owned a game console of some kind, and mobile phones are an intrinsic part of the Finnish life as 95 % of the population owned one. Wap, GPRS and 3G-phones constitute 38% of that figure. 81 % owned a music player such as mini disc- or mp3-player in 2004 (Statistics Finland, 2006a).

As for television, the consumption of TV content is within an easy reach too due to “the democratization of entertainment”, as Zillmann (2000, p. 17) describes it. We are provided with all sorts of televised entertainment, such as music, dance, sports and drama around the clock, and we all have front row seats whether we consume the motion pictures in our living rooms or via mobile phones in the commuter train. The right to be entertained has grown stronger lately and some label these times as the Age of Entertainment (Sayre & King, 2003). Obviously, this right is largely exercised, as more than five hours a day is the estimated time spent in front of the television in an average American household in 2005. This figure does not include consumption of DVD:s and downloaded content from the Internet but solely televised content. By 2009, the average American is expected to consume media 10 hours a day, with interactive television, consumer Internet and wireless content comprising the most part of the hourly gains (Communications Industry Forecast Highlights, 2005). The average Finn spends in general 2 hours and 49 minutes a day watching TV. The consumption of televised content has increased by 29 minutes in the last 10 years. When adding video and DVD consumption to this, the average Finnish viewer spends 3 hours and 4 minutes in front of the television each day (Statistics Finland 2006b, p. c), a figure that has increased by 34 minutes in a decade.

So what does this entertainment, of which many people consume considerable parts daily, signify? The etymology of the word “entertainment” reveals Latin roots as it is formed out of the two words ‘inter’ (among) and ‘tenere’ (to hold). This could be described as “to hold the attention of” or “agreeably diverting” (Sayre & King, 2003, p. 1). Entertainment has come over the years to refer to a constructed product designed to stimulate a mass audience in an agreeable way in exchange for money. This experience can either be live or mediated. Mediation refers to the fact that it is distributed in print or electronically. Entertainment is always created on purpose by someone for someone else and its primary purpose is to attract audiences and to offer pleasure. Amusement can be defined as a pleasant diversion, like a game, and

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especially like the individual satisfaction derived from play. Entertaining ourselves by playing games is an important aspect of amusement. The pleasure principle dictates that humans strive to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. Many forms of entertainment bring direct pleasure while other forms would seem far from pleasurable, like a very sad movie. The key ingredient seems to be that something that we feel is entertaining makes us feel something (Sayre & King, 2003).

Despite the important role pleasure plays in our lives, there are no extensive answers to questions regarding the nature of entertainment in relation to enjoyment. Moreover, there is little knowledge on what the audience finds enjoyable and entertaining, not to mention the issues concerning the function and the effect of interactive entertainment in the eyes of the audience. As interactive features are increasing in television content today, there is a call for research exploring the relationship between the TV audience and the interactivity, and identifying the factors of interactivity that influence the audience’s sense of pleasure. In a recent audience research study that was conducted on the interactive game show Enigma in 2005 in iDTV Lab’s audience research laboratory at Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Finland, we inquired into the experience of entertainment of the TV audience. The questions addressed were: to what extent the audience enjoys integrated interactivity in a TV quiz show, and whether the participation in the unfolding events on the screen makes the viewing experience more enjoyable. This paper discusses the experience of enjoyment that integrated interactivity in a TV show generates to its audience, taking the audience research study mentioned above as a starting point.

2. Change of scenes in media consumption The main interest area of academic research in the field of mass media and

communication has been for a considerable time the “effects research”, that is if, and to what extent, the television affects the viewers. Numerous studies have looked into whether certain media content, such as scenes containing physical violence, causes upsetting emotional reactions both in children and adults (Gunter, 2000, p. 162; Livingstone, 1998). Many researchers have also taken an interest in the sense-making process of the viewers, employing encoding-decoding models and reception theory (Livingstone, 1998).

Less attention was devoted however to experiencing enjoyment and to examining what requirements must be met to successfully entertain the audiences. The knowledge of what the public finds appealing is of increasing importance as the media consumption of today is shifting from a lean back-model to a lean forward one, where the media content often is personalized, individualized, non-dependent of time and space and in many instances interactive. Niched content via cable or numerous TV channels, on demand, services like iTunes and TiVo, rss-feeds and pod casts, all form the development of an active media consumer taking control over the content and where, when and in what shape it is delivered.

As for TV, the role of its audience has altered during the last decades. From being merely spectators, enjoying only what was broadcasted from one content producer to many viewers via the television; the audiences are now increasingly characterized by activity and engagement. One step towards a more active role was including the listeners in radio talk shows and young viewers in interactive TV programs, such as the first interactive TV program Winky Dink and You, where the audience’s participation is of great importance. A recent dimension of the greater activity on the part of the viewers’ is interactivity in the living room via a return channel.

In sociology, interaction refers to the mutual relationships between individuals or groups. Within computer sciences, on the other hand, interaction signifies processes

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that take place between humans and machines (Vorderer, 2000). Interactive television refers to a process that is closer to the definition of interactivity from the computer sciences. It is a process where the television viewer can in some way influence the content shown on the television screen. The viewer may participate in and influence on the televised content via a digital set-top box and its remote control, or a mobile phone. The dynamic change the TV industry is currently facing, i.e. the transformation from a passive, linear viewing experience to a more engaging, interactive one, is quite revolutionary, giving the control to the audience. Although parts of the future audiences are still likely to opt for a passive, non-individualized and non-convergent TV experience, many viewers probably will choose to exercise influence on what to watch, when and where and to affect the content of the TV broadcast, as many do already today. It is known that traditional media users usually seek an enjoyable experience without investing too much ambition and energy in the experience. Interactive media users, on the other hand, hunt for challenges and try to achieve something, and therefore they choose content that promises to be challenging. This characteristic is very much present in computer games but can also be present in interactive television (Vorderer, Klimmt & Ritterfield, 2004). Thus, setting out to shed light on the incitement of choosing interactive entertainment and what possible rewards it may grant the viewer, we conducted an audience research of an interactive TV quiz show.

3. Purpose of the study The game show Enigma is Finland’s first digital, interactive TV format with fully

synchronized and integrated MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) and Mobile Java interactivity. Assigned by the developers and producers of the game show, iDTV Lab evaluated the audience’s appreciation and enjoyment of the TV program. The general objective of the study was to assess whether and how the TV program Enigma benefits from interactivity. Furthermore, our interest lies in determining, from the audience perspective, whether the viewing experience is ameliorated when the person in front of the television is participating in the story. The study also included a comparison between viewing groups, in order to see if there is any difference when the interactivity is used in a social context. As a part of the study the TV format itself was also evaluated.

Figure 1. Screen shot of an interactive viewer’s game. As mentioned earlier, the audience may also participate in the interactive quiz show

through a mobile phone supporting Java or with an MHP set-top box and its remote control. The interactivity is completely synchronized with the broadcast, permitting

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the viewers, playing along only in three of the rounds consisting of 11 questions, to contemplate the questions and give their answers in exactly the same time as the teams in the studio. Naturally, the choice of enjoying the game entirely passive is an alternative to the audience as well. Thus, we studied the characteristics and differences of the various ways of viewing the TV show, with interactivity using a mobile phone or an MHP set-top box, and without interactivity. As a complement to statistics on how many viewers watched the show, the issue of the enjoyment of the show was addressed by collecting the target group’s opinions on the TV format and its realization. Therefore, the concrete research question was twofold.

Enigma can be defined as a quiz show where the viewers were active, participatory viewers. Some viewers, according to Sayre & King (2003, p. 225), use quiz shows on television to test their academic knowledge while others try to keep up with the contestants as a measure of their abilities by engaging in self-rating or competing with others. It is said that audiences do not want to see intellectual heroes in quiz shows on television; they would rather see regular people answering questions about celebrities. Viewers want to think that they might be able to grab the big prize themselves. Enigma can be characterized as a quiz show of such format, as all the participants in the show were regular people of a similar background and age as the intended target audience for the show.

The findings of the empirical study were to be employed by both the researchers at iDTV Lab for academic purposes, and also the TV format developers in order to create TV formats as viewer friendly as possible. Thus, one foot of this audience research stands firmly on academic soil, whereas the other stands on industry domain. However, employing the measuring stick of Barrie Gunter (2000, p. 136), the present study lands closer to the “Academic affective research” category rather than “Industry-driven affective research”. The former seeks to understand how viewers relate and respond emotionally to various media content during consumption, whereas the latter refers to research conducted by media industry bodies in order to identify new measurement systems, or fine-tuning present ones, or measurement of the enjoyment of media content in the eyes of the audience on a regular basis (Gunter, 2000; Hagen, 1999).

This paper illustrates the experience of entertainment and enjoyment of the audience who participated in the study. As the collected data is extensive, the focus is restricted to the experience of enjoyment in the light of the audience’s viewing experience. Firstly, a review of theories and conceptions of enjoyment and entertainment in quiz shows that are linked to our study is presented. Secondly, the research disposition and the methods employed are discussed, and finally, the main findings concerning the entertainment of the interactive TV show are presented.

4. Interactivity and enjoyment Drawing on Vorderer et al (2004), we conceptualize the enjoyment of a TV viewer

as a complex construct that includes both emotional, physiological, and cognitive dimensions. According to Vorderer et al (2004), earlier researchers have defined some conditions that need to be fulfilled before the media users feel entertained. These prerequisites, presented below, can function either in combination with each other or separately: 1) The user has to find the fictional world presented believable. 2) The user has to feel empathy for the characters presented. 3) The user has to be capable of and have the will to relate to, and even interact with, the characters presented.

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4) The user needs to have a feeling of being present in the story unfolded. 5) The user needs to be interested in the topic presented.

These conditions apply for enjoyable media consumed in a lean back-mode. The question whether the TV audience wants to be interactive or not when they are watching television however remains unanswered within the research community. In non interactive media the audience is surrendered to what happens on the screen. This seems to be an important prerequisite for the emotional participation of the viewer. Nevertheless, it seems that being interactive does not prevent involvement, suspense, and enjoyment. These are very important factors for media consumption. The solution to this lies, according to Vorderer (2000, p. 30), in the more complex structure within which interactive media use takes place. Interactivity requires the audience to be active and to concentrate on what to do next, and they have to make decisions on how to act instead of just observing what is shown on the screen. This has an impact on the viewer’s self-esteem, well-being, and so forth. Not only does the viewer have an impact on the story, also the picture of oneself is affected. It appears that users of interactive television have two roles: the role of a witness, and that of a participant or player. These two roles may also function as separate psychological processes.

But there still is at least one remaining question, according to Vorderer (2000, p. 31), and that is whether the users actually enjoy experiences like these and how active they want to be in front of the screen. It has been assumed that the younger generation knows how to use the new media to its full potential and they find the old media boring. On the other hand the older generations are overwhelmed by this new type of media. Studies have shown that well educated young people with high income are particularly attracted to interactive media. Older people who are confronted with new media seem to object them. In a test conducted by Vorderer (2000) with an interactive movie, it was found that the information elite, meaning the people who had a degree and who had a higher cognitive capacity, were eager to interactively watch the movie. Those who had not graduated and were slow in their decision making disliked the opportunity to interact. They preferred to watch the non-interactive version of the movie instead. The conclusion from this test was that more cognitive capacities and higher education lead to a more positive evaluation of interactivity. Fewer capacities and lack of advanced education lead to more distress, and thereby to a more negative evaluation of interactivity.

Furthermore, the audiences’ enjoyment of interaction is influenced by a number of factors. The degree of selectivity seems, according to Sayre & King (2003, p. 91), to play a role in audience enjoyment. If the audience is allowed too few choices, they might become bored or frustrated, and if they are given too many they may become overwhelmed and frustrated. Researchers are only just now beginning to explore how audiences engage with and react to interactivity.

5. Research disposition As the empirical study has the character of a pre phase of a future doctoral thesis and

of an examination of the viewing experience of one sole program, rather than of a study claiming to draw general conclusion on all interactive TV shows, a sample of 35 participants viewing the show was considered enough to secure the reliability and validity of the study. Furthermore, the assessment of the usability of the interactive elements, by identifying the benefits and the disadvantages of interactivity, was an important feature of the study. In such studies, five is a sufficient number of participants as the understanding of the audience behaviour does not increase by adding more and more users, as one may basically only see the same things time and

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again. Saturation appears after the fifth user (Nielsen, 2000), which is why each test group in the present study had approximately five viewers.

Consequently, a total of 20 men and 15 women assessed the entertainment value and the usability of the interactive features of the TV quiz show. A closer look at the test audience reveals that the average age was 27. The target group of the game show Enigma being 20 to 35-year old people, a majority of the evaluators were less than 30 years old. Three out of four evaluators lived in a city and had a college education or were college students. Concerning the TV viewing habits of these viewers, a meagre majority spend one to ten hours a week in front of the television. 40 % of them watched television more frequently, enjoying 11-20 hours of televised media content on average per week. A statistically significant difference was found concerning TV viewing habits. The more mature persons in the testing audience watched more television than the younger ones.

One essential interest in the viewing experience of the show was the interactive element. More precisely, if there are any differences between the ways of being interactive in terms of usability, involvement and appeal. In order to answer this research question, the participants were divided into four different groups (see figure 2). There were no specific selection criteria applied, other than an aim to have balanced groups consisting of an adequate age spread, balance of sexes, and heavy vs. light TV consumers. Thus, one group viewed the game show in a traditional manner without any interactivity, only following the two competing teams in the studio. Another group participated in the show using a Java-based mobile phone, whereas a third group was interactive through an MHP set-top box and a remote control. A fourth group had the opportunity to be both interactive and passive. These viewers spent the first round of the show simply watching the competitors in the studio. Come the second round, they answered the trivia questions by using an MHP set-top box. The participation tool in the third round was switched from the set-top box to a mobile phone. This group tried out all three methods of viewing the show, thus being able to compare them.

Another variable tested in the study was whether the audience watched the program alone or in a peer group. Roughly one third evaluated the play-along game show in a group of family or/and friends, while others viewed the show solitarily.

Figure 2. Based on the ways of enjoying the TV show,

seven test groups were defined in the study. 5.1 Methods One option for undertaking the audience research was to conduct the study in a

“natural” setting by asking the viewers to watch the show in their own homes. Another was to have them enjoying it in an experimentally constructed environment in iDTV

IndividuallyNo

interactivity

IndividuallyMHP

interactivity

IndividuallyJava

interactivity

IndividuallyNo + MHP

+ Java

GroupNo

interactivity

GroupMHP

interactivity

GroupJava

interactivity

No interactivity MHP Mobile Java All

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Lab’s audience research laboratory, which comprises 5 small living rooms with a couch, armchairs, carpets and tables. The laboratory setting, ideal for studying the cause and effect with supervised mechanisms, and with the exact variables the researcher is interested in, might have an influence on the participants and on the results. As opposed to observations in “natural” settings where the viewer would be exposed to contextual factors calling for the viewers’ attention, these are eliminated in the laboratory environment, perhaps creating an unnatural context in an unfamiliar setting.

Figure 3. Eye tracking example. Figure 4. The setting of the study.

The laboratory alternative was eventually considered plausible, since the objective

was neither to conduct an ethnographic study, nor to investigate patterns of use or the significance of TV consumption. Moreover, due to technical reasons of broadcasting it was not possible to conduct the study in the participants’ homes.

Naturally, several measures were taken in order to get the participants accustomed to the surroundings. The evaluators played a simple, pre-test game on the MHP set-top box and/or the mobile phone. The mission of such action was twofold. Partly, the viewer had a chance to familiarize him/herself with the tool of interactivity to be used in the study. Additionally, the tension caused by the test situation and the new surrounding was relieved, which was crucial for the psycho physiological measuring.

As the research questions concerning interactive digital television differ from those of traditional, lean-back model TV, some kind of melting pot of different methodologies and methods is often necessary, to fully comprehend the character and impact of the interactivity (Rasmussen, 2005). In our study, the question of how enjoyable the viewing experience was - both with and without interactivity - according to the target audience, was answered by blending quantitative and qualitative methods, such as eye tracking, psycho physiological measuring, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.

During the test a freestanding Tobii X50 eye tracking camera was used (see figure 3 and 4), a system specially designed for studying TV content. The camera is based on infrared light, and tracks a person’s eye movements from the distance, being placed between the person’s legs, thus limiting interference during exposure to media content. This, in combination with the recorded TV screen, renders valuable information about where exactly on the screen the viewer has been looking while playing along.

The participants’ usage of the remote control and mobile phone during the test was recorded through video surveillance. A video camera recording the mobile phone or/and the remote control was placed behind the participant and was used throughout the study. This method offers information on usability related issues. A video surveillance system was also at work during the study to record the behaviour of the

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participants. An intercom system was additionally employed to give instructions to the participants and to record their comments. During the actual viewing of the program all the participants were left alone in the room, without any involvement from the researchers.

Yet another method put to service in this study is the measurement and recording of psycho physiological reactions. The psycho physiological data (tracking of changes in skin conductance and heart rate) enabled an analysis of the state of the test participants’ interaction with their environment, in this case the TV viewing. Measuring electro-dermal activity (EDA) offers a glance into the emotional and cognitive activity of a TV viewer (Stern, Ray & Quigley, 2001).

The off-line assessment of how the audience felt about the interactive content and the interactive experience was composed of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The participants filled out a post-viewing questionnaire where they were asked to rate the content and the interactivity. As a last step of the study, there were semi-structured interviews, conducted both with groups and with individual evaluators. In about half of the interview cases, the same show the evaluator just had seen, was shown on a screen in the same room, serving as a memory support. 6. “Thinking while watching”. The viewers’ stance on enjoyment of the show

When studying the enjoyment of the interactive viewing, the following sub-genres,

among others, were employed: involvement (e.g., behaviour depending on if the viewer participates alone or in a peer group); enjoyment (such as suspense and tension); and appeal (for instance, interest in participating again, attitudes towards iTV). Similar sub-genres were identified as core dimensions of game shows and quizzes in earlier studies of television programs (Gunter, 2000). The results presented in the coming chapters follow these categories. 6.1 Involvement

We concluded earlier that a sense of being present, engaged and involved are all

ingredients of the feeling of being entertained. Therefore, our empirical focus lies heavily on this matter. The results show that the interactive viewers watching the game show solitarily paid careful attention to it. The eye tracker and video surveillance data show, for example that the viewers playing along by the set-top box remote control spent in general 73% of the total time of the three interactive rounds watching the TV screen (see figure 5 for an example of areas of interest). The remaining time was devoted to the remote control and to looking around the room, perhaps pondering the correct answers to the questions. Similarly, a competitive spirit, both in terms of the winning teams in the studio and to challenge “one’s self”, is evident in many of the test situations.

The non-interactive viewers enjoying Enigma on their own, on the other hand, followed the show quite carefully but many stated in the interview that interactivity would have made the viewing experience more exciting and enjoyable. A 26-year old male viewer said “Sometimes, when I knew the answer to a question – like the one on the atom bomb – I was like... Hey, I want to answer to it too!” A switch of channels would have been an option for some of them.

In the three groups playing together with family and friends, however, the attention was not always directed on the TV program, especially not in the group of friends

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watching the show without participating themselves. In their non-interactive viewing, there was no competitive spirit. Nor did they engage in a discussion regarding which options were likely to be correct. There was rather an, at times, lively debate concerning the issue of the question in general, and not about the actual question posed in the quiz. For example, the question of which queue is, in the eyes of the studio audience, the worst, generated a debate on the difficulties to get through to a Finnish telephone company’s customer service. As a consequence, these viewers sometimes missed out on some questions or parts of them.

This is not the case in the group of friends, each participating with their own Java-based mobile phone. There was rarely an exchange of opinions regarding the game and never before the end of the about 25 seconds allocated to answering the question. The behaviour was rather individualistic and competitive in this group. Everyone concentrated on his/her own game, being careful not to reveal the strategies of the game. The success of it was however well demonstrated, as the players compared the earned points. Short discussions on the questions or the answer alternatives did occur in the group playing Enigma with mobile phones, but the discussion never strayed from the subject or the game situation. The game was quite involving for these competitors.

The large family playing together had only one tool of participation, namely the remote control, which vouched for collaboration in the game. The family members did play the quiz show as a team, with everyone contributing to the strategy and choices of alternatives. As there were many voices, the discussion never strayed away from the game. The competitiveness was clearly present in this group.

Having in mind the data presented above, the main findings in the light of involvement and the state of presence are that competitiveness was found in the interactive peer groups playing among friends and family. When there was only one tool to participate with, the viewers competed as one team, with lively debates on the choice of alternatives. When everyone had their own tool, on the other hand, individual competitions arouse and there were no common discussions on strategies or correct answers. Contrastingly, the non-interactive group showed a poor competitive behaviour.

Another finding is that the involvement and attention in the game and the TV program is greater in the interactive, than in the non-interactive peer groups. As for the non-interactive viewers, they paid attention to the show but many of them pointed out in the interviews that they would have welcomed the interactivity as a viewing experience ameliorating factor.

Figure 5. The areas of interest-pattern on the TV-screen of a 30-year old woman participating with MHP interactivity.

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6.2 Enjoyment

When setting out to investigate the test participants’ affective responses to the show and its integrated interactivity, we touched upon several areas. Using scales of five, we asked the test subjects to assess what emotions and affections the interactivity provoked. For example, the test audience rated the degree of enjoyment and excitement the interactive elements of Enigma had to offer.

On the scale from 4 to 10, which is equivalent to the school grades in the nine year compulsory school in Finland, all test participants were asked to rate the actual TV program. Of all viewers, 8% rated Enigma between 5 and 6,5; 66% rated it between 7 and 8, and 26% graded it within the 9 to 9,25 range. This is to be considered a good grade. No statistically significant differences were found regarding the grades, which imply a broad target group.

Concerning the possible excitement the interactivity may generate, it turns out that 66% of the test participants characterized their interactive experience as exciting. Only 8% of the viewers felt that the interactivity did not offer a stimulating experience. We found a significant difference in this matter, where the younger viewers under the age of 25 found the interactivity more exciting than the ones being over 25 years (p=0,05). A 24-year old male viewer describes his viewing like this: “I was engaged, I know what happened every second of the show. I didn’t even get up to get a Coca-Cola.” A 26-year old female viewer was not as amused: “A bit yes, it was quite exciting to participate.” A man, aged 28, stated that although being interactive is entertaining, it leaves you stressed afterwards. This finding supports the hypothesis on an age and TV consumption correlation, put forward in IBM’s report on future TV entertainment (2006). An earlier study has also found a greater interest in interactivity among young viewers than in groups of elder spectators (Bjoerner, 2005).

The reasons mentioned by the interviewees to why the interactive viewing was exciting are, among other things, the possibility to challenge one’s self and one’s friends, and that “something always happened” in the show.

Another affective side of interactivity in a TV program is the sense of being bored or entertained. The majority felt entertained whereas 17% experienced boredom at times. There was a small, but not statistically significant, difference between the interactive and non-interactive viewers as the non-interactive participants felt bored more often than those participating themselves in the quiz.

6.3 The value of interactivity A common question today is: does the audience want to be engaged by interactively

using the media? Or does the TV audience rather want to play the role of lazy “couch potatoes” in front of the television set? Researchers still do not have enough empirical evidence to give a clear answer to this question (Vorderer, 2000, p. 28). In our study however, we found that the interactivity is compelling to the test audience, especially to those who had the opportunity to try to be interactive.

One group in this study tested all the three ways of watching Enigma: watching it passively, participating through the mobile phone, as well as by an MHP set-top box. This group provided important information on viewing experience flavoured with interactivity as they had the chance to compare these three ways of viewing.

These viewers were asked which way of watching the show they deemed more entertaining, being interactive or being non-interactive. Everyone answered “being interactive”. A male test participant, aged 26, comments “It is more entertaining to be active and to see how well you would have done in the quiz”. A 22-year old male

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participant states that being active as a viewer offers more stimuli and engagement, and concludes that this is good.

All participants were asked what the quiz show would be like without the interactive feature enabling the viewer to play along. About half of the test participants could only speculate on how it would be, as they were interactive throughout the show. We found a significant difference in opinions in this matter (p=0.01). The passive viewers thought higher of a non-interactive Enigma than the interactive ones did, especially the viewers participating via the MHP set-top box. It appears that an interactive viewing experience with an MHP set-top box appeals to the viewers, as they would not care for a non-interactive version of the TV show. Moreover, it seems difficult for a non-participating viewer to imagine what kind of added value the interactivity will give to the viewing situation, as those who were given the opportunity to be interactive were more positive than those who had no experience of being interactive in front of the television set.

One of the topics discussed in the interviews was whether the viewer experienced any benefits from the participation in the narrative unfolding on the TV screen. A 25-year old female participant argued that the interactive version is to prefer because it guarantees an entertaining time in front of the television. She is forced to make decisions as to which answers are correct and what’s more, she receives feedback on her choices. A 23-year old man said “Without the interactivity, you would just sit there, watching without thinking.” A woman, aged 24, disagreed stating: “Perhaps it was more entertaining to merely watch. I thought it was ok to just watch the others answering the questions too.”

In this context, the psycho physiological results are of interest, especially in the case of the group testing all three ways of watching the show. When being interactive, every one of these test participants showed a higher level of skin conductance than when passively enjoying the program. As emotions and electrochemical changes in sweat glands are related (Stern, Ray & Quigley, 2001), we can infer that the viewers have been more aroused while playing along themselves, than when watching in a traditional manner. The figure below illustrates the pulse (upper curves) and skin conductance level (lower curves) of a 26 year old female viewer. She enjoyed the show passively without any interactivity during the first round, where the levels are falling. The right side of the picture shows the levels of the second round when she was playing along in the game.

Figure 6. The skin conductance (the lower curve) fell during the passive first round of the game show, whereas it roused during interactivity.

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6.4 Appeal

Concerning the degree of attraction of an interactive quiz show, the test participants were asked about their attitude towards interactive television programs in the post-viewing questionnaire. The outcome of the answers could be affected by the fact that this question was posed after the viewing. We figured nonetheless that it would be difficult for the test participants to form a judgement on something that they perhaps had not heard of, or only had a vague understanding of, which would be the case in a pre-viewing questionnaire. It turns out that 76% of all the study participants welcome more such programs in the future. Among the interactive participants, the number was 80%, whereas 56 % among the non-interactive participants. Only 8% of the interactive participants, and 13% of the non-interactive participants, were not interested to see more interactive programs in the future. There were no significant differences found in this matter.

In the interviews, some sad they felt that the television is by character a passive medium, and it should remain as such. One man feared that some might get addicted to the programs and overspend time and money on them. Most of the test participants stated however that they welcome more interactive TV programs as long as the content does not suffer due to the interactivity. Many mentioned that the optimal solution would be for the viewer to have the choice, whether to enjoy the show interactively or passively. As for the content, some praised the iTV feature, which provided feedback on questions, or thoughts from experts or guests, for example in the studio in life-style shows. Others again expressed discontent on interactive TV programs with no narrative or story to be told, for example in the interactive games.

The majority of the test participants felt that Enigma is so enjoyable that they are motivated to watch it again. Many said that it is explicitly the interactivity that attracts them. Some stated that although viewing was an enjoyable experience, they would not tune in again as they simply do not like the genre this quiz show represents.

7. Conclusions Earlier in this paper, we contemplated whether the viewers enjoy interactive

experiences in front of the television, and to what extent they wish to be active during media consumption. This was also the main research question of the audience study, where we set out to verify or falsify the hypothesis that the viewer experience is ameliorated when the player in front of the television is participating in the competition unveiling on the screen.

By virtue of the findings presented so far in this paper, we reached the conclusion that the integrated interactivity in the game show Enigma adds value to the viewing experience in general among young adults. The interactive feature seems to raise the attention level and the degree of involvement, and to intensify the feeling of enjoyment and excitement, especially in peer groups watching and participating in the show together. Moreover, the majority described the interactive experience as exciting, partly due to the challenging and dynamic viewer experience it generated, whereas merely 8% of the test viewers did not feel that the interactivity offered excitingness. In particular the younger test participants were more appealed by the interactive element than the elder. Concerning the scope the viewers want to be interactive while enjoying televised content, the results show that the majority welcomes future interactive TV shows. Many would tune in especially because of the interactivity, although a small group feels that regardless of the enjoyable experience of interactivity television should remain a passive medium.

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One should bear in mind however that the study was carried out in a laboratory environment that differs from a true home environment. One key difference is for example that all the equipment used in the lab, such as mobile phones and set-top boxes, had been checked and set up to work correctly. This might not be the case in a true home environment. A laboratory setting is of course also different from a home environment where the viewer feels more secure and at ease with the TV watching situation.

The results of the research of the quiz show Enigma may influence future format development and TV production, as they convey what the audience appreciates in an interactive game show and shed light on the experience of being interactive. The findings emphasize the value of integrated interactivity, and that all the evaluators consuming the quiz show both interactively and in a traditional, passive manner state that the interactive version is more entertaining. This manifests a new aspect of entertainment and TV content, where the audience itself is actively participating in the pleasure experience and amusing content unfolding on the screen. The television has often been said to be a window to the world and when one adds interactivity to this, the viewer gets the chance to exercise control, from the personal living room, over which images pass through that window and in what shape. The study shows that this action of participating can enhance the feeling of being entertained.

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