Engaging Audiences Across a Fragmented & Multichannel Journey
One of the most visible changes in recent years is the decline of strictly linear consumption. Audiences move freely between live broadcasts, replay platforms, mobile apps and social media. Nearly half of video consumption now happens on demand, and prime-time audiences continue to shrink. According to Kantar Media’s TGI Global Quick View Report 2025, the number of adults who primarily watch traditional linear TV channels has dropped from 12% in 2021 to just 7% in 2025, a 42% decline in four years. Conversely, those who predominantly consume content via on-demand have risen from 20% in 2021 to 25% in 2025, marking a 25% increase.
The consequence is not just a loss of reach at a specific moment. It is the disappearance of a unified audience experience.
Traditional interaction formats such as TV on-air interactive experiences, including contests or voting mechanics still perform well. They generate strong engagement by creating emotion and encouraging participation. When supported by a well-designed mechanic and attractive prizes, these activations remain powerful drivers of audience engagement and loyalty. The limitation is that they are often confined to airtime. Once the program ends, the interaction quite disappears with it.
This creates a gap between moments of high engagement and long periods of inactivity. In a digital environment, that gap becomes a missed opportunity.
Extending interaction beyond broadcast is becoming essential. Audiences no longer think in terms of channels; they move seamlessly across platforms and expect a continuous experience that follows them. They want to engage and interact with content whenever and wherever they choose, not only when it is scheduled.
Extending On-Air Moments into Ongoing Digital Interactive Journeys
Interactive mechanics remain one of the most powerful audience monetization tools available to media companies. The challenge is not to reinvent them, but to rethink how they reach audiences, extending both their lifespan and their impact across new channels and formats.
When a quiz or a contest moves beyond the broadcast and becomes accessible on digital platforms, it is no longer tied to a specific moment, one-time interaction, but becomes an ongoing experience, part of a broader experience that users can access and revisit whenever and wherever they choose.
Building on the success of on-air interactive experiences, media players have a strong opportunity to extend gaming interactive mechanics beyond traditional channels such as SMS or IVR into web and mobile environments. The digitalization of interactive experiences directly responds to evolving consumption habits, enabling media brands to engage more connected audiences who are accustomed to seamless, on-demand digital experiences, while also reaching a broader audience. This evolution unlocks several key opportunities:
- Extending interaction into digital environments, where users can access premium interactive journeys directly from web platforms or mobile interfaces, exactly where they already consume content.
- Reaching connected audiences through web and mobile platforms, including second-screen and replay usage.
- Designing enriched interactive journeys, from initial touchpoints across the digital ecosystem to conversion, creating a seamless user experience.
- Strengthening the relationship between audiences and media brands through continuous, multi-platform engagement, where each interaction is designed as part of a cohesive user journey.
In this context, Digital Virgo supports media partners in this transformation of media consumption through a true co-creation approach, developing tailored and innovative solutions aligned with each media’s digital ecosystem and strategic objectives. Digitalizing the offer means building on the success of on-air interactive experiences by extending gaming and engagement mechanics beyond traditional channels such as SMS and IVR into web and mobile environments. This evolution responds to changing user habits and enables media brands to connect with a more digital-native audience accustomed to seamless online and mobile experiences, while reinforcing the relationship between audiences and brands through stronger multi-platform interaction.
Users can access premium interactive journeys directly through web platforms or mobile interfaces, whether during live broadcasts or at any other moment, creating continuous engagement opportunities.
From the first strategic touchpoints across the digital ecosystem to conversion, every interaction is designed as a complete user journey. Powered by DV Live, the 360° interactive and monetization engine enables a global, multi-channel approach for media brands.
“Product innovation and diversification lie at the core of Digital Virgo’s approach. Together with our account managers and product teams, we are deploying a multichannel strategy and a comprehensive audience monetization offering, leveraging the latest innovations to actively support the transformation of the media industry. From RCS campaigns that enable more immersive, premium, and visually engaging experiences, to the digitalization of our solutions through the design of enriched interactive journeys that extend the reach of on-air interactive mechanics to connected audiences, we are building a new generation of interactive experiences accessible to a broader audience. Our ambition is to support our media partners with comprehensive, multi-market solutions that combine accessibility and high-quality service, enabling them to effectively reach and engage all their audiences while generating new revenue streams.” explains Audrey Barbier, Director of Partnerships, who leads operations with media partners in France and drives international strategy.
Expanding Audience Reach Through a Complementary, Multichannel Approach
A common concern when introducing digital extensions is the risk of cannibalizing existing channels. In reality, interactive experiences in digital environments complement what already works through a multichannel strategy.
On-air mechanics, particularly SMS-based interactions, continue to deliver strong results among established audiences. At the same time, digital environments make it possible to reach broader, more connected audiences who are accustomed to web and mobile usage, whether through replays or second-screen experiences.
Rather than replacing existing formats, enriched interactive journeys in digital environments expand the ecosystem. Media companies can reach a wider audience through an omnichannel strategy, where each channel plays a complementary role in engaging audiences across key touchpoints, without forcing a transition from one model to another. Each user engages through the channel that feels most natural.
This multichannel approach allows media brands to preserve the performance of proven mechanics while extending their reach to new segments, ultimately creating a more inclusive and scalable model for audience engagement.
Simplifying monetization to unlock value
If engagement can be extended, monetization must follow. This is often where digital strategies encounter friction.
Users are willing to pay for participation, entertainment or premium experiences, but only if the process is simple. Complex payment journeys quickly lead to abandonment, especially on mobile devices.
This is why telecom-based payment solutions are becoming increasingly relevant. Direct Carrier Billing allows users to complete transactions through their mobile operator, without entering card details or leaving the experience.
The result is a smoother journey and significantly improved conversion. In some implementations, integrating telecom payment has led to a clear increase in transaction volumes and overall performance.
More importantly, it aligns perfectly with mobile usage. The same device used to consume content becomes the tool for interaction and payment, creating a seamless loop.
RCS as a Catalyst for Elevating On-Air Interactivity Through Omnichannel Strategies
Beyond platforms and payments, communication itself is evolving. Messaging is no longer limited to simple notifications, it is becoming a true engagement channel.
With technologies such as RCS, messages turn into interactive, content-rich environments where users can engage instantly through visuals and clear calls to action. In this context, Digital Virgo collaborates closely with telecom operators and Google to accelerate and optimize the deployment of RCS for its media partners, enabling scalable and high-impact interactive experiences.
“RCS is now emerging as a key innovation driver to enhance audience monetization for our partners, enabling richer, more engaging, and conversion-driven experiences. Since the beginning of 2026, we have been actively evangelizing the media market, particularly in France, by developing and deploying an increasing number of on-air interactive campaigns in collaboration with our media partners, leveraging the strengths of RCS for Business.” adds Audrey Barbier, Director of Partnerships
RCS extends on-air moments into seamless mobile experiences, allowing audiences to discover, access, and participate in interactive content instantly. As a high-impact channel, it drives stronger engagement, up to two to three times higher than SMS, and delivers particularly strong conversion rates, reaching up to 85% in some pilot campaigns, while enabling measurable performance through advanced KPIs and conversion tracking.
It ultimately transforms messaging into a strategic lever for acquisition, engagement, and monetization, while reinforcing a multichannel approach that enables media brands to reconnect with audiences in a direct, immersive, and scalable way across touchpoints.
Building a Sustainable Engagement Model
What emerges from these evolutions is a more integrated approach to audience monetization, enabling media companies to move from isolated peaks of activity to a continuous relationship with their audiences. Engagement, interaction, and revenue are no longer separate elements; they are part of the same dynamic. From the first point of contact to conversion and re-engagement, each interaction is designed as a structured user journey.
- A successful model typically combines several layers:
Strong content, combining interactive mechanics and attractive prizes, that attracts and retains attention. - Editorialization of operations within media programs to maximize engagement rates
- Interactive formats that deepen engagement
- Seamless payment solutions that enable monetization
- Multichannel distribution that ensures continuity
To further enhance performance, additional features such as QR code participation or Click-to-SMS are developed and managed to multiply audience acquisition channels and optimize campaign performance across all touchpoints, both offline and online.
This model also provides flexibility, allowing different monetization approaches to be applied depending on the market, ranging from pay-per-play mechanics to subscription-based models or hybrid strategies combining both.
A Broader Transformation of the Media Role
These changes reflect a deeper transformation. Media companies are no longer just broadcasters; they are becoming platforms that host experiences, interactions, and transactions.
This evolution requires new capabilities and the ability to connect multiple ecosystems, from telecom operators to digital platforms and messaging channels, into a unified experience of audience monetization.
At Digital Virgo, this is where our role takes shape. At the core of our offering, the DV Live solution acts as a true engine for media interactivity and audience monetization, supporting our media partners to extend their interaction models, simplify monetization, and create multichannel experiences that remain coherent and effective.
Each year, DV Live powers more than 30,000 multichannel operations across SMS, RCS, voice, and web, manages over 60 million messages, and enables the distribution of more than 75,000 prizes, demonstrating both the scale and operational maturity of these interactive ecosystems.
This approach is further strengthened by a 360° model, supported by dedicated media experts and product teams who co-design tailored solutions with each partner, from strategy definition to performance optimization, ensuring both innovation and operational excellence.
All deployments are also built within strict regulatory and ethical frameworks, ensuring compliance with local market requirements and reinforcing trust for both partners and end users.
Looking ahead: The Future of Audience Monetization
The challenge facing the media industry is not a lack of audience interest. It is the complexity of maintaining that interest over time and converting it into sustainable value.
The solution does not lie in a single technology or channel. It lies in the ability to connect them into a unified experience. An audience monetization model that brings endless possibilities to media companies around the world.
Media brands that succeed will be those that create continuity where fragmentation once existed, and simplicity where complexity used to slow users down.
Because today, engagement is no longer about a moment. It is about the relationship that follows.
