Choose Your Own IVR Adventure

Truly interactive programming has long been a goal of movie and television producers.  13th Street productions have effectively achieved the first step in reaching such a goal with the help of IVR technology.  In their first interactive feature film "Last Call," movie goers are asked to enter their cell phone numbers into a database which is used during the movie to direct the actions of characters.  In the horror film, the character calls a random viewer seeking help to escape the killer.  The IVR system registers the responses and the film proceeds according to those choices.  This can result in unique moviegoing experiences for each viewer.

Of course, this is only one step in the process of fully interactive movie entertainment.  The viewer does not have complete control over the action in the film but rather binary choices at several points in the action.  The ultimate goal is complete control over a virtual world, but this is a positive step which appears to be a hit among test audiences and well suited for the horror genre.  This application of IVR is another in a long line of uses of the technology above and beyond its initial concept.

Story Time Through IVR

While the most common use of IVR is for customer service and call routing, some companies are utilizing the technology for entertainment purposes.  Indian cellular provider Reliance Mobile has introduced a children's story telling IVR system.  Through the system, a user can select from many of India's most famous folk tales narrated in one of ten common languages for a small per minute fee.  In addition, a subscriber can select one of the stories as a caller tune for their phone.  Caller tunes play a specific song or track rather than a ringer when someone is trying to connect with a user by phone.  This serves as a form of entertainment for the caller, like on-hold music, while the connection is being established.

Although it may seem like a rather unimportant product, this and others like it are examples of non-traditional uses of IVR systems and their ability to generate revenue.  In the United States, IVR has been employed for some entertainment purposes but not to the extent that it has been applied in European and Asian countries.  This specific type of product might not work in the US, but a variation of it could be a hit with certain customers and/or demographics.  It's hard to gauge the market for IVR-as-entertainment in the US but for now it appears to be a potential opportunity for development in India.  Development of these types of IVR applications will help diversify the industry and allow it to live longer in a world where disruptive technology can change the world overnight.

IVR Karaoke

On the lighter side of the IVR business, cellular company Loop Mobile has launched a new service called Karaoke Messaging. The service allows users to record karaoke versions of popular Bollywood songs, save them or even then send them to their friends. The service uses IVR systems to provide instructions and other options to the user including listening to the original song to review the lyrics.

The service is only currently available in India, however this type of application could become very popular in other countries including the United States. In our "American Idol" and "Rock Band" culture, karaoke has changed from novelty product into a growing industry. The process could be easily implemented by US cellular providers and could prove to be a lucrative service especially among younger customers. As the cell phone continues to develop from a simple utility device into an entertainment gateway, there will be more innovative ways that IVR can be used to deliver content to the customer.