American Idol's FaceBook App Increased Engagement 10X

PROJECT BRIEF
American Idol was looking for ways to interact with its younger audience during and after the live shows. I proposed a second screen experience with the aim to drive higher engagement ratings. The result was a ten-time engagement rating improvement during its first campaign. The app was so successful it was renewed and improved on for three show seasons.

ROLE
My role as Digital Strategist and UX lead on the project. I proposed the digital strategy for the "idolized" app and developed various Facebook app concepts and saw them through the design, execution, and analytics reporting aspect.

METHODOLOGY
Through a series of focus groups and audience data analysis, I derived insights that helped guide our design thinking. The data pointed to how audiences tend to interact with friends and family as they watch American Idol, often cheering on while wishing they could personally get to know their favorite contestant. I developed various "Shout Out" concepts in wireframes and developed a few prototypes that were user-tested. Each season the app was enhanced with more features such as adding a MEME maker.