The Skins Website

The Skins Website

‘Us’ Section

Introduction to the characters, including:
- An ‘about me’ section, so that the consumer can feel they ‘know’ the character, and have inside information on them, giving them a more personal link to the show
- Fave tv shows – an opportunity to market other channel 4 programmes – for example Scrubs on Michelle’s introduction
- Fave movies
- Fave bands – includes links to their channel 4 websites – more subliminal advertising for channel 4 products
- Fave websites – links to external websites – more opportunity for channel 4 to earn outside revenue
- Photos and video diary – again to give the consumer something unique and personal which they cannot get elsewhere or from the TV show

Sign-up

Gives you the opportunity to become a member of the Skins community, where you will receive benefits such as being able to view ‘unseen skins,’ weekly emails, exclusives and ‘free stuff’ such as a free song download. It allows channel 4 to send emails about their other products and services, and also helps them to track the progress and success of the programme.

Episodes

Contains episode summaries to keep-viewers up-to-date if they miss an episode, and encourage them not to stop watching if they do miss one. It also contains a link to the Skins MySpace page.

Unseen Skins

Each week an unseen, unavailable on TV, mini episode of Skins is released, which is only available to members of the Skins Community. For the consumer this offers exclusive content, allowing a feeling of being one of a limited number who gets to view these, making them feel more valued. For channel 4, it encourages customer loyalty, both to the website and to the programme. It is also motivation for consumers to join the Skins Community (discussed above)

Competitions

These competitions were all before the actual launch of skins, to encourage consumers to get involved early on, and to feel a part of the programme before it had even started. They also got people talking about the programme and created an early hype.

The competitions were:

- to redesign the logo
- to style the characters for a shoot in More magazine
- to compose the music which will accompany a scene in episode 5
- to create a short film based around one of the characters

The first three areas all mean less work for the production team, while the fourth gives the programme extra publicity.

Trailers

The trailers, which were available before the episodes were shown, similarly create a hype, and allow consumers to rewatch as many times as they want. The videos also have channel 4 adverts before they begin, which cannot be skipped.

Forum

The forum allows the most interactivity on the site, with users able to create topics, or add to existing ones. The forum creates an online community, where users can talk for as long as they like with people who have a shared interest. They may not otherwise have people to talk to about Skins, and by giving them a portal for discussion, the website also encourages people’s interest in Skins to grow beyond simply watching the programme, and turning them into a much more interactive and dedicated fan.

Advertising

The Skins webpage, like all the other channel 4 webpages, contains internal and external advertising, as well as a link to the sponsor (BSM’s) website. This brings in revenue for channel 4, as the more consumers log onto their site, the more willing companies are to pay for advertising space. As the Skins website contains interactive and exclusive content, with particularly the ‘Unseen Skins’ encouraging loyalty, as they are released weekly, it is likely consumers will feel a lot more involved in the programme, encouraging them to watch, which in turn earns more revenue for channel 4.