Smart Screen

Vast Media Smart Screen Round-Up: HGTV’s Facebook Chatbot, Nickelodeon’s ‘Loud’ VR

Here’s a run-down of recent second screen-related entertainment items, via Berlin-based research and consulting company Vast Media.

• To help promote the Jan. 19 return of its animated comedy series “The Loud House,” Nickelodeon offered up a 360-degree video for fans that puts them in the very “Center of Chaos” from the show’s family household. The video, produced by Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab, launched the same day as the premiere on the network’s official YouTube channel, and revolves around the family’s 11 children getting ready for school.

• On Jan. 17, HGTV launched a new chatbot for Facebook Messenger, giving users the ability to access expert decorating tips and daily design ideas. Hazel — the name of the chatbot — gives users photos galleries, ideas for do-it-yourself projects, HGTV content, and more, by prompting users to reply to on-screen conversation prompts, or via search topics.

• To help promote its mystery crime drama “Bellevue,” WGN America teased the Jan. 23 premiere with an interactive, gamified trailer, which let users search for hidden objects, for a chance to win a $250 gift card or a “Bellevue” T-shirt. Created with the help of interactive ad firm USeek, users can visit the microsite embedded in the trailer, and find hidden objects in the video, by following hints shared in a progress bar. Once finished, users are prompted to enter into the contest, with the top three users winning a gift card, and every 20th player who finds all the objects winning a T-shirt.

• For the fourth season of its reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” Network Ten launched a companion series on Facebook, ahead of the season’s Jan. 28 premiere. The 10-part series, “Edge of the Jungle,” was also made available on Ten’s streaming service Tenplay. Each of the five-minute episodes offers fans a behind-the-scenes look at what the celebrities go through before and after the episodes air on TV.

• As an online exclusive, French broadcaster ARTE released the series “Cuba Underground,” which gives viewers an inside look at the culture and art seen in the Caribbean island nation. Each episode runs around seven minutes in length, and offers a focus on the new cultural events that have popped up since the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.