Leading current affairs TV show goes social

Carte Blanche, South Africa’s version of the actuality and documentary show 60-Minutes, is turning 22 this year and to celebrate they’re throwing a party and inviting everyone.

The TV show’s “It’s all about you” campaign will make use of its Facebook and Twitter presences to vote on which stories will be seen on Carte Blanche on Sunday, 12 September 2010.

At the start of the broadcast, veteran anchor Derek Watts, who believes Carte Blanche doesn’t “look a day over 20,” will announce that viewers need to visit Carte Blanche’s Facebook page to choose which story goes out next, and in what order stories are to follow. There will be more than four stories to choose from, which means some of them won’t go out.

“In a sense we’re allowing our audience to act as gatekeepers by letting them decide which stories go out on the night. And, by encouraging the audience to suggest scripted links, we’re putting some editorial power in the viewers’ hands,” says Executive Producer, George Mazarakis.

The Carte Blanche team will allow viewers the opportunity to participate in writing the studio script via Twitter and Facebook — basically telling Derek what to say.

The campaign, which is also a celebration of Carte Blanche Medical and Carte Blanche Consumer — launched this year under the tagline “It’s all about you” — aims to ensure one of South Africa’s most successful television brands stays on air for another 22 years.

According to Peter Griffiths, Carte Blanche’s Interactive Editor, “The campaign is a good space to test new programming formats while experimenting with better ways to involve our viewers. It is a bit of fun too – it’ll be interesting to see if Derek can keep up with a constantly changing autocue on live television.”

M-Net’s Lani Lombard agrees: “Carte Blanche has always been a front-runner in the local television industry and efforts to find ways to purposefully integrate current and future social media trends into the programme could take viewer interactivity to a new level.

“M-Net is constantly exploring social media opportunities and we encourage strong brands such as Carte Blanche to pave the way into this exciting and engaging new public space.”