ITV boosts online for World Cup

ITV has unveiled a raft of "dual-screen" services for its 2010 World Cup coverage in an attempt to capitalise on the trend of people being online while watching TV.

Titled ITV Live, the new online platform will allow football fans to use their computers to watch games, discuss the tournament and access information.

Hosted at ITV.com, ITV Live will feature live match streaming and instant replays from all ITV's 32 games from the event in South Africa.

Users will be able to customise ITV Live to their own requirements, including specific tools for match data, social media and interaction elements.

Opta will provide match statistics for the service and links to Facebook will allow members to comment on the latest World Cup developments.

"Dual-screen has been a priority for ITV.com over the last 12 months and ITV Live is the exciting result of our exploration into how our users want to interact with big events simultaneously on the television and online," said ITV director of online Ben McOwen Wilson.

"This is a real first and we are very proud that ITV is taking interactivity to a whole new level this summer. We think the ITV Live experience will not only be the definitive real-time experience of World Cup 2010 but also a platform that we plan to build on for all the live ITV television events for the future."

ITV Live has been built in collaboration with Monterosa, the agency which recently designed an online interactive game for Channel 4's The Million Pound Drop Live.

The company has extensive experience in creating wraparound online experiences for TV shows, after also creating The Apprentice Predictor for the BBC and Four Weddings Live Rater for the Living channel.

"We're evolving the nature of TV by letting fans of a show take greater control of their experience and become part of the action," said Monterosa creative director Tom McDonnell.

"It's live social TV which also feeds the audience's appetite for more video, stats and facts while they're watching."

McOwen Wilson added: "ITV Live is the result of ITV's exploration into how our viewers want to interact with big events on TV. We are thrilled to be working with Monterosa to take interactivity and media multi-tasking to a whole new level this summer and beyond."

All ITV games from the World Cup will be streamed live on the ITV website and made available on demand via ITV Player after transmission.

An ITV World Cup app will further be launched on the iPhone for users to catch up on news, match highlights and podcasts while on the go.

On the Red Button, ITV will launch a World Cup Extra programme offering daily news bulletins produced by ITN and the opportunity to view the latest comments on ITV Live. (from DS)

There will be great excitement until England lose...