Detecting Artificial Life in ‘Sleuths’

TV-related avatars are all the rage these days, from suave social networking viral ads to on-screen animations, crafting a digital doppelganger is an additional form of interactivity that helps hook audience members on a show.

U.S. audience members are becoming part of the storyline for the first time as mobile broadband and technology provider Artificial Life teams up with RDF Digital for the half-hour animated mystery series Sleuths.

“It’s both a television show and an interactive experience,” said Max Benator, senior VP of multi-platform entertainment for RDF USA. “It’s revolutionary and we couldn’t be more excited to introduce this to the States.”

Using Artificial Life’s MoPA-TV system, viewers can register and customize their own avatar which appears as their on-screen representation while the show airs on TV. Three times during Sleuths, the avatars appear for voting sessions in which viewers are asked questions about the show. Those who answer correctly stay on for the next question, while those answering incorrectly are shown the digital door. At each episode’s conclusion, the top five avatars will appear on screen with Sleuths’ main characters, four kids working to solve the day’s mystery.

So watch intently super-sleuths…even digital avatars can feel the hot shame of defeat.