Television has long struggled to get viewers feeling like they’re interacting with the show. Perhaps the most successful example is “American Idol,” where each week the votes of the audience determines which performing contestants stay and which go. By June 30, 2017, that entire concept could be amplified beyond anything seen so far in television entertainment to date, according to one man.

“We invented a method to build software systems that allow AI to insert interactivity into the storylines of a TV drama series. Participatory TV. A viewer can become a player, like a game module. … It’s a marriage of cognitive, computing and television drama,” said George Davis, CEO and creative director of Quest Digital Interactive. Advertisements could even go as far as tapping a shoe an actress is wearing on screen and having the Amazon page for that shoe come up after the show.

Davis spoke to John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the IBM World of Watson event in Las Vegas, NV.

The importance of emotional connection

The first show being produced by Quest Digital Interactive is called “Saving the Planet,” which combines a TV series and a computer game to fight climate change. Even though people are beginning to recognize the facts of a particular “cause,” a majority don’t seem to be pulled into action,” Davis explained. But stories are powerful and can draw people in through emotional connection. Knowledge is much more likely to stay with a person if they experience saving a person using CPR than if they simply read the steps, he said.

So, while all the technology is great, masterful writing still plays an important role. “To make it work, you have to have a hit TV series. You need the emotional involvement. … Then once you figure out how to solve a problem, you get tacit knowledge,” said Davis. To that end, the programmer and the script writer work closely together. As his start was in novels, Davis said he can’t wait to get back into the writing aspect of production.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM World of Watson 2016.

*Disclosure: IBM and other companies sponsor some IBM World of Watson segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither IBM nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.

Photo by SiliconANGLE