Fox Extends Facebook Voting Trials With Telescope Management

After the introduction of Facebook voting helped Fox to record numbers for the last season of American Idol, Fox is extending trials to So You Think You Can Dance.

Fox clocked up some 122.4 million votes for the season 10 finale of Idol, while a total of 730 million votes were cast over the course of the season. It was the first time the network and Idol producers offered online voting for the show, using viewers' Facebook accounts for authentication.

While Fox didn't break down the voting stats for Idol, the fact that the network is adding online voting to So You Think You Can Dance - again using Facebook - suggests that the social network is gaining ground as a viable voting mechanism for TV shows.

Online voting for Dance begins immediately after the first performance show airing Wednesday, June 15. Viewers will continue to be able to vote via toll-free telephone lines and text-messaging.

"We are extremely excited that we are expanding the voting process to include online," said Dance co-creator, executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe.

"I believe that interactivity is going to be a major part of programming in the future. We are at the cutting edge of dance, and it's important that we remain at the cutting edge of interactive technology."

Jonathan Webdale
9 Jun 2011
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© C21 Media 2011