Book a Demo

International Spotlight: RBB Amplifies Town Halls with Megaphone

by | | Megaphone Updates, Responsive Reporting | 0 comments

Megaphone is honored to work with RBB (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg), a station covering the greater Berlin region in Germany. It is Megaphone’s first collaboration with a public broadcaster in its history, which is not the only remarkable point.

“RBB is the first public broadcaster in Germany to search for new ways of communicating with viewers live via smartphone. Just broadcasting alone is no longer enough; we want to enable active participation”, says Jens Riehle, RBBs Head of TV and the creator of “meinrbb.de” (“my RBB”). The URL of the interaction page is also the claim of RBBs new offering to its viewers. All live shows have at least one interactive element, ranging from:

  • polls in the main news

  • viewer reaction during consumer magazines

  • daily quiz segments in afternoon programming

Introducing “meinrbb.de” has been a great success, says Thomas Hoffmann-Arends, Megaphone’s local representative. Viewer comments show an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the new opportunity of participating in the program. Even the hosts are astonished by how quickly viewer feedback and opinions are delivered to the studio seconds after the questions are asked.

One signature show using viewer interaction is RBBs town-hall format “Wir müssen reden!” (“We have to talk”). Wherever local or regional conflicts become critical, the show goes right to the middle where things happen. The two hosts discuss the issues with representatives of all involved parties, including experts and community members. With “meinrbb.de” the viewers at home can join the discussion and become part of the show. The interactivity adds clear value, and the producers showcase the platform during every show.