London TV

Produced by the etv media group, London TV was commissioned by Visit London, formerly the London Tourist Board. The channel was one of the key marketing routes used to promote the city and highlights the variety of events and attractions that were available in London, be it West End and fringe theatre productions, live bands, concerts & gigs, museums, clubs, restaurants, comedy nights, tourist attractions, sports or shopping.

Originally aired on the Sky Digital platform, London TV evolved into a full broadband service and was available on Visit London's website (www.visitlondon.com). The channel was also available through a number of other distribution platforms including hotels, taxis, buses and airlines.

The etv media group took a holistic approach to its broadband TV content. Our back catalogue of programmes was re-versioned to provide a large amount of short form videos, designed to deliver information and entertainment in a snappy and attractive manner.

Working with Narrowstep, we designed a system that appealed to a broad audience, and provided simple usability. We had a unique booking system to support each video; as a user views a VT, a small window provides a link to further information about the subject matter and gave the opportunity to directly book tickets without leaving the player. This was an area of primary importance to Visit London and was used as a device to bring the broadband TV content and web content together as one service.

For example, users watched a video for a particular restaurant, view its location, nearest train station and book a table directly through the player, often with just one click.

This approach gave us the freedom to be creative with our content and meant that the whole experience for the user was both entertaining and informative. A colour coded channel system, consistent with Visit London's brand communications, helped the audience recognise the key themes (ie shopping, eating out, attractions) covered across the entire website.

London TV played in the back of taxis using CabVision, reaching 1.4 million passengers per month.

London TV was carried on Virgin Atlantic and British Airways inbound flights, directly targeting visitors to the capital.

London TV was available on Heathrow Express trains coming into London, and between terminals, targeting 200,000 passengers per month.

London TV played in 600 travel agents around the UK on the Travel TV channel.

London TV videos can be viewed on You Tube and Blink.com

The London TV online service proved immensely successful and provided inspirational and informative content for the website, which records around 1.8 million page impressions each week, and 1 million unique visitors per month.

The service has been well received and was recently short listed for Broadcast Magazine's Best Use of Broadband Award.