MANILA, Philippines - People who have watched webisodes of Imortal on its website knew when John Lloyd Cruz’s character Mateo was about to turn into a vampire on the ABS-CBN’s hit primetime teleserye about vampires and werewolves.
That’s because they spotted the symptoms when a character turns into a vampire as shown in the Maestro webisode wherein a character close to Mateo during his younger days had bloody eyes and couldn’t stand the daylight too long before he became a vampire.
Up to 60,000 people have gone online to watch Imortal webisodes since the website was created in Oct 2010 to serve the needs and wants of the Kapamilya mythology series’ followers and fans who want more than the nightly episodes aired on free TV.
The Imortal website (imortal.abs-cbn.com) is a pioneering project that differs from the usual websites of Philippine TV programs. More than just a catalogue that offers episode guides and photos, the site is interactive and offers exclusive content that complements the TV series.
Efforts to create an extension of the Imortal brand online and make an emotional connection with audiences have paid off. To date, the site has 14.6 million page views or roughly about 2.5 million page views per month.
“These people demand something that is not shown on TV. So we collaborated with the writers and the producer of the series to flesh out the characters of Imortal through webisodes,” said Carlos Mori Rodriguez, ABS-CBN head of Digital Brand Management, who spearheaded the online project.
Audience reception of the webisodes indicates a growing number of young Filipino viewers who no longer subscribe to appointment TV viewing but habitually watch programs online.
Majority of those who visit the Imortal website are 16 to 19 years old fans of the Lobo series, followers of Angel Locsin and John Lloyd Cruz, and fans of the genre popularized by Twilight, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, among others.
Apart from the production of webisodes, the site launched a contest called Likhang Imortal wherein people interpreted the world of Imortal via illustrations. Rodriguez described the response as overwhelming with 12,000 entries received in a span of three months. They have awarded the top three prizes to Gilbert dela Cruz, Jethro Abanera and Chrismark Gascon. The top 10 artworks can be viewed at the Likhang Imortal exhibit in Trinoma Mall.
And to engage Imortal followers even more, the site has also developed the first Pinoy teleserye-based Role Playing Game or RPG called Pangil: Samantha’s Quest that allows people to go online and play against the toughest vampires in familiar settings like Binondo, Quiapo, and Intramuros, until they face the powerful vampire leader Magnus Imperial, which is played by Jake Roxas in the series.
“The RPG is still very faithful to the story and on-air component of Imortal and it feeds on the need to provide something exclusive to the fanatics and also engage the indifferent who enjoy playing online games,” Rodriguez said.
He said the Imortal website will continue to be online even if the series no longer airs on TV. It will have a new skin, new webisodes, and more features by mid-April.
Looking at how Imortal went beyond TV and crossed to the cyberworld would reveal new opportunities for TV producers, advertisers, and the viewing public.
“The digital platform is not just a repository of information. It deserves its own exclusive content,” said Rodriguez.
He pointed out that online platform now offers a chance for TV producers to test new program formats before they are launched on the boob tube and it can be a new platform to reach new audiences.
“Production cost for webisodes is lower,” he said. “Internet penetration in the Philippines is also growing because it is now made more accessible with the proliferation of Internet cafés and cheaper because of competition.”
For advertisers, it presents an opportunity to catch the elusive young audiences who are spending more hours online in a medium that is personal, engaging, and interactive.
And for the public, new media can complement if not complete their viewing experience as they are taken into the world of their favorite series beyond television.