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Website Of The Week – SceneOne

Website Of The Week – SceneOne

http://www.sceneone.co.uk/

It’s not surprising, given the growing number of different media, that we should see an increase in the amount of media cross-promotion. As more ‘traditional’ media develop their online presence, the role of the internet is giving cross-promotion a new arm to explore. Rather than showcase an exclusive range of products and information, a growing number of smaller companies are opting to show a larger range of information (often listings/guides) to attract users to their own specific range of products.

In this vein Flextech Interactive (FI), a new division of pay-TV content producer Flextech, has recently launched a new online entertainment guide named SceneOne. Covering a sizeable range of entertainments listings, Flextech’s aim is clearly to establish a one-stop-shop of media and arts, where users can peruse a comprehensive range of Flextech – and perhaps more importantly – non-Flextech brands. Thus we can check out what’s showing on Bravo, Trouble and UK Gold as well as the familiar terrestrial channels. Each channel’s listings are presented in a concise, friendly manner. None suffers from the abbreviated comments that often crop up in newspaper TV columns which can’t afford the column inches – a good use of virtual space.

Editorially, SceneOne covers a wide range of topics from television, cinema, radio and music through to gigs, theatre, comedy and books. The style is very much flicking-through-whilst-in-the-newsagents. The listings are far from being exhaustive. Neither are they by any means in-depth. Consequently, it would be wrong to call them authoritative, with the exception of the television section, which is quite extensive, giving regional UK and Ireland listings as well as major satellite and cable channels.

Whilst it is wrong to call SceneOne authoritative it is nevertheless inviting in its simple design, friendly colours and buttons and well-written features. Where SceneOne can be said to lose through a lack of depth it clearly wins through its clever editorial style. Each section of the site contains a Table of Truth – This Week’s Headliners. It sounds quite plastic but – This Week’s Headliners is interesting given that it does voice an opinion which is critical and at times funny without the annoying best-film-ever claims of publications such as Empire and Premiere.

In terms of useability, the site performs smoothly, although some of the ‘Go’ buttons at the bottom of Search engines are little too small. SceneOne has a low ad:ed ratio, although it’s more than likely this will change as the site becomes more established. Competition icons are colourful and flash without cluttering the entire page. No mean feat.

SceneOne could well be success, as a site in itself, if given the sufficient amount of resources from Flextech Interactive (FI). The more interesting story, however, will be the ways in which it succeeds in promoting the brand-awareness of Flextech’s ever-expanding media portfolio.

Reviewer: Ciaran McConaghy

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