poldark cast q&a

Groovy Gecko filmed, managed and streamed a live Poldark Q&A session to Facebook using interactive tools to engage the show’s fans.

The Live Q&A saw Poldark star Richard Hope act as the host and pose audience questions to fellow Poldark actor Jack Farthing and series writer Debbie Horsfield at 5:30pm on Friday, 16th August 2019.

Objectives.

The BBC Poldark team wanted to have a live Q&A with fans through Facebook ahead of the final season of Poldark. They wanted a two-camera shoot with interactive elements that featured fan questions on-screen.

What we did.

We did the production of this live stream which included a team of 4 and a two-camera set up. To include the interactive live questions element, we GG Live Questions from REALM, our set of tools which allows moderators to easily manage live streaming features including live questions and polling in one place. During the Poldark stream, the on-site moderator sent messages directly to the audience through a live on-screen pop up box (our interactive card tool) and encouraged viewers to ask questions to the Poldark panel on various topics throughout the stream.

We selected the best fan questions submitted and sent them to host Richard Hope’s iPad. We created bespoke Poldark graphics to appear as an overlay to the video for the banner displaying the chosen fan question to create a branded experience for viewers.

the results.

The BBC Poldark team and SMMS were very happy with how smoothly the event went and the Poldark cast answered and discussed 28 fan questions in the 30-minute stream. With over 69,000 views and 800 comments, engagement was very high with over 1,500 interactions and more than 200 questions sent in throughout the stream.

Jake Ward, our Business Development Director commented, “Consumers are looking for connectivity with their favourite stars and our latest solution offers a great way for audiences to mould the content they see… Poldark has a massive following of loyal fans and this was a great opportunity for them to ask their burning questions to the show’s writer and cast before the end of the final series. Our solution was the perfect fit as it allowed us to tailor Q&As to specific topics through the interactive card tool – this meant that the best questions were presented to the host, which of course provided the audience with the best viewing experience.”

watch the full stream.