NBC is hoping to ride the wave of so-called “Web 2.0” with its participatory, multiplatform talk show iVillage Live. The woman-focused weekday show, which will launch Dec. 4 at noon on NBC’s owned-and-operated stations, will also be streamed live on NBC Universal-owned website iVillage, where viewers will be invited to chat about what they are seeing. Portions of that chat could end up on air as fodder for host chit-chat or as a scrolling ticker.
IVillage Live, shot at the company’s Universal Studios theme park, is NBC’s first major project to utilize online women’s portal iVillage, which the company bought for $600 million earlier this year. The show, which B&C has reported on throughout its development is launching at a time when old media companies like NBC are angling to get a piece of the so-called “Web 2.0” movement, characterized by websites like YouTube and MySpace that solicit content from users and foster a sense of community.
To that end, iVillage Live will offer live chats at noon on both the east and west coasts. It will also offer a daily poll question and an “audience comment box” for 24 hours preceding each day’s show, so viewers can offer input on the next day’s broadcast. It will also offer audience members, who will be seated in a revamped theater in Universal answer questions on polling devices attached to their seats.