As a leader in the digital and interactive television, Bravo continued to push the envelope with Top Chef Transmedia: a cross-platform, interactive viewing experience. Bravo expanded the Top Chef storyline from a one night event into a seven day experience consisting of four main elements: the on-air series, the digital series, interactive live voting, and the integration of social media. The drama and events from the main competition continued into the digital video series. As fans watched week to week the drama from on-air continued into the digital series. Then entirely new twists were introduced in the digital video series that later impacted the on-air show bringing the entire storyline full circle. Fans were also given the opportunity to voice their opinions and vote for elements that also directly impact the show. While participating in the interactive campaign, fans join together, rally for support, and connect with talent on social platforms. The stories and interaction across the on air series, digital series, interactive voting campaign, and social media integration worked together to create a seamless cross platform storytelling initiative. As the Top Chef franchise continued to grow in success, Bravo sought ways to enhance the storyline by innovating on the show format, extending the story across platforms, and by integrating its passionate and social foodie fan following. In order to achieve these goals, encourage new viewing habits and create a week long viewing experience, Bravo developed a unique cross platform experience that introduced a deeper, more contextual sponsor opportunity which delivered double digit growth against their key metrics and allowed them to be key stakeholders in the cross-platform experience. DIGITAL SERIES For the 11th season of Top Chef, Bravo introduced a new pre-quel, Padma’s Picks, where the final cheftestant was cast. The series launched exclusively across digital platforms and was released in full to create a batch viewing experience. When Top Chef premiered, Last Chance Kitchen returned to follow the on-air episode tracking the fate of the newly eliminated chef as they competed for the ultimate redemption - return back into the on-air competition. For the 5th season of Top Chef Masters, Battle of the Sous Chefs paired the performance of the Sous Chefs with that of the Master Chef where the Master Chef was awarded with immunity or faced challenges based on their Sous’ success. INTERACTIVE & SOCIAL ELEMENTS In Top Chef, fans participated using “Play Live", where they voiced their opinions and saw results live, on-air. In Top Chef Masters, fans voted to award donations to their favorite chef teams. Alongside voting campaigns, viewers joined forces across social platforms. In Top Chef, veteran Chris Crary became a season-long social correspondent. In Top Chef Masters, viewers & cheftestants rallied for votes, directly impacting the live voting results. Over the past year, Transmedia proved to be the most successful digital video series at NBCU, responsible for both driving on-air ratings and increasing social participation.
http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters/season-5/battle-of-the-sous-chefs http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters/season-5/overall-team-standings http://www.bravotv.com/play-live http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-11/videos/padmas-picks
