CNN Announces Interactive Integration For Royal Wedding Coverage

CNN has released details of ways they will integrate interactive features into their coverage of the Royal wedding on Friday. Details from CNN follow.

CNN Press Release: On-air integration of iReport, Facebook and Twitter places viewers at the center of CNN’s coverage

On Friday, April 29, beginning at 4 a.m., ET, CNN’s global coverage of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will uniquely incorporate Facebook, Twitter and iReport, the network’s global participatory news community, into its television programming. These on-air integrations will enable consumers to share in the experience with their family and friends in real-time, as well as contribute first-person perspectives on the day’s events – all while witnessing the biggest royal wedding event since Charles married Diana.

“CNN’s three-screen coverage of the Royal Wedding is unique because it empowers the global audience to interact with each other and with our anchors, whose knowledge of the Royal Family is unparalleled,” said Janelle Rodriguez, director of programming for CNN/U.S.

The primary social media integrations on CNN’s and CNN International’s simulcast of the special coverage of the Royal Wedding will include:

• Twitter: Utilizing the hashtag #CNNtv, CNN will solicit responses and reaction from viewers on Twitter during the live broadcast. Selected tweets from viewers will be displayed alongside the live video coverage in a “slow stream.” Additionally, CNN will curate tweets from relevant influentials, such as celebrities, fashion designers, politicians and friends of the Royal Family, which will appear in the lower-third banner of the broadcast.
  

• Facebook: During the live broadcast, the lower third also will feature select Facebook Status Updates, providing a snapshot of sentiment on Facebook about different aspects of the Royal Wedding through real-time keywords analysis.

• CNN Scan It: Special two-dimensional barcodes will appear throughout CNN’s special coverage of the Royal Wedding prompting viewers with smartphones to “scan” the code, which automatically loads the CNN Mobile Royal Wedding Planner – no typing required. This simple, point-and-shoot tool allows television viewers to seamlessly transition to CNN’s special coverage of the wedding available on smartphones.

Additionally, the winner of CNN’s Royal Wedding iReporter Contest, Jason Sauter of Orlando, Florida, will travel to London to join CNN’s Royal Wedding team, and will appear during the network’s special coverage beginning on Thursday. With more than 750,000 iReporters around the globe and an iReport submitted from every country in the world, CNN also is issuing an open invitation for people to share their Royal Wedding experiences via iReport, whether they are in London or simply celebrating at home by visiting http://on.cnn.com/fucnKE. Select vetted iReports about the Wedding will be featured throughout CNN’s television coverage of the wedding.

Finally, on GetGlue, the leading social network for entertainment where users can check-in and share what they are watching, listening to and reading with friends, people who watch CNN’s special coverage the week of the Royal Wedding can unlock exclusive CNN Royal Wedding stickers, including:

• Westminster Abbey with CNN’s Piers Morgan, for users who tune-in to Piers Morgan Tonight the week of April 25;

• Hyde Park with CNN’s Kiran Chetry, for users who tune-in to American Morning the week of April 25;

• Buckingham Palace with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, for users who tune-in to Anderson Cooper 360 the week of April 25;

• CNN Royal Wedding, for users who tune-in to CNN’s special coverage of the Royal Wedding on Friday, April 29; and

• Imperial State Crown, the fifth and final sticker awarded to users who obtain each of CNN’s other Royal Wedding stickers.