ABC iview is offering even more to Australians in 2021. The ABC’s video-on-demand (VOD) service helps viewers watch what they want, when they want it, with new personalised features that make it easier to enjoy outstanding programmes from the nation’s biggest collection of Australian content.
Rolling out from July, audiences will need an ABC account to watch ABC iview’s unrivalled catalogue of Australian drama, documentaries, news, comedies and children’s content. Account holders will also get the benefits of individual profiles for each household member and features such as personal programme recommendations – cutting down time spent endlessly scrolling for great content – and watchlists of shows they want to catch later on.
ABC iview will be a more convenient way to catch great content on-demand, enabling audiences to continue watching programmes across multiple devices – picking up a show on one screen where they left off on another.
Also launching is an eye-popping ABC iview brand campaign that promises to not only surprise but also delight with the introduction of beautiful puppet characters in Linh, Arj, and Gloria. The work is wrapped in the tagline “Don’t be surprised if you’re surprised”, which speaks to the breadth and depth of content available on ABC iview.
Diana Costantini, Head of Creative ABC MADE, said: “The VOD space is heavily populated with a lot of fantastic creative work in market. Our aim was to craft a campaign that stood out from the crowd, piquing the interest and enticing audiences to jump on to ABC iview to experience the vast range of content we have on offer. Of course, if you’re going to run a campaign line around ‘surprise’ you also want the campaign itself to be surprising. We think Linh, Arj and Gloria deliver that in spades.”
The puppets were designed in-house and then made by puppetry and digital media expert, Kay Yasugi, from Digital Seagull, who was also the puppeteer on the shoot. Bringing an extra layer of entertainment and surprise to the idea, the ABC MADE team lured the conventionally challenged Sam Simmons to the microphone as narrator of the campaign, which also plays out across ABC radio and television.
“Our puppets don’t speak, so the narrator was always an important consideration when crafting the work,” Diana said. “Rather than engaging a standard voice-over person, we auditioned actors and comedians. Sam’s silliness and off script commentary won us over. He’s true-blue original and we’re stoked he could bring so much to this project.”
ABC’s Director of Audiences, Leisa Bacon, said: “Over three million Australians have already created an ABC account. Logging into ABC iview with an ABC account will help audiences to discover content that they may not have otherwise.
“We know that audiences choose their streaming services based on the content offer and the ABC serves up award-winning content that spans everything from drama to comedy, docos to news and, of course, it’s all for free. The ABC MADE team has produced a stand-out integrated campaign that will help audiences to re-evaluate ABC iview.”
Meet the newest ABC iview ambassadors Arj, Gloria and Linh below:
