Miniweb and Central Index Launch Interactive Business Directory Services on TV
13 July 09
Miniweb and Central Index Launch Interactive Business Directory Services on TV
‘TV118’ provides directory listings and TV Sites for businesses to engage with TV viewers at a local, regional or national level
London, UK, July 13th, 2009 – Business Directory provider Central Index and Miniweb, the Interactive Service Provider that is enabling internet video, interactivity and targeted, web-style advertising on TV, today announced the launch of TV118, a new business directory service for the TV, which is made available to consumers free of charge. TV118 enables companies to promote their services locally, regionally or across the UK on the main entertainment screen in the home. Businesses of any size, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), can now claim their free TV directory listing giving them access to over 9 million UK households on the Sky network. The service will be built and hosted by TV Express, the web and TV Site design partner.
Viewers access the service by simply pressing ‘interactive’ on their Sky remote and then entering the TV Key ‘TV118’ using their remote control buttons. They can then search the business category that they want on the TV118 homepage screen. Various business categories such as ‘Florist’ or ‘Car Hire’ can be entered together with a postcode to see a listing of relevant local businesses in that area. TV Keys work in the same way as mobile SMS words, using the remote control number buttons to enter data and interact with the TV118 directory.
Companies are listed on the business directory for free, but can enhance their TV presence with a 1 page interactive TV Site, giving them a branded presence on the TV118 service for a low monthly fee. This will also give them a guaranteed top 10 placement in the directory search results for their local area and they will be able to promote their directory TV Key (Florist, Car Hire etc) on their printed collateral and marketing materials. For an additional premium, businesses can benefit from a fully interactive 5 page branded TV Site, with a guaranteed top 5 placement in local search listings under their directory TV Key.
“With this partnership, Miniweb enables all UK businesses, whatever their size or budget, to reach their target audience through the TV,” said Andrew Carver, CEO, Miniweb Interactive. “We are pleased to be working alongside TV Express and Central Index to launch the first business directory of this type on the TV. Our platform enables UK businesses to engage with millions of TV viewers at a fraction of the cost of existing TV broadcasting methods. This makes interactive TV with Miniweb a very attractive marketing proposition for any of the 3 million SMEs in the UK or as a highly effective incremental marketing initiative to enhance larger brand media campaigns.”
The TV Site hosting and authoring service is fulfilled by TV Express, by re-using assets, information and branding from the website of a listed business to provide that business with a Site specifically designed for use on the TV. The low costs and easy set up for this service brings Interactive TV within the reach of every UK business, and allows them to connect with more than 20 million viewers that use the Sky digital platform.
A TV118 directory listing is easy to create, either online at www.tv118.co.uk or by signing up for a free listing directly on the TV118 service on Sky. Simply press ‘Interactive’ on the Sky remote, select TV Keys and enter ‘TV118’. Premium listings are limited to 5 for each directory TV Key and thousands of viewers are already using the Miniweb TV Key service to search for business services.
“At last UK businesses have a chance to reach a huge TV audience for free with their own editable listing on the TV118 Directory. The only requirement is to be a registered business on Centralindex.com - this is free using the promotion code 'TV118'. For a higher profile listing, a small fee can be paid to upgrade to a fully branded TV Site with images, contact pages and more,” said James Moore, Sales Director, Central Index. “Our partnership with Miniweb opens up interactive TV to smaller businesses, which have previously found it too expensive to consider. We are excited about extending Central Index’s hugely successful web directories to the TV, and are pleased to be working alongside TV Express and Miniweb Interactive to launch this pioneering service. We look forward to enabling companies of any size to access the power of the TV to promote their business at a cost they can truly afford.”
TV Express is an established web development agency with over 5 years’ experience in delivering interactive solutions for the web and TV. Under this partnership, Miniweb will integrate the TV118 directory within its interactive TV platform, whilst Central Index will provide the required database, search and listing results pages. Central Index manages white labeled web-based business directory services that are distributed via a number of UK media brands, as well as regional distributors across the UK and Ireland.