Press Release from Cordell Jigsaw
Multi award-winning factual series, Bondi Rescue is the first television series to use Google+ Hangouts to connect with fans from around the world. The Cordell Jigsaw produced program will also screen the first episode of the latest series on YouTube in HD to a global audience this evening, Monday May 7 for a 24-hour window.
The series is now in its seventh season on TEN, screening Mondays at 8pm.
Google’s Hangouts allow people to interact in a live video stream. Five fans from anywhere in the world will be selected to Hangout on the Bondi Rescue Google+ page with Chief Lifeguard Hoppo, and Bondi favourites Reidy, Deano, Maxi, Jesse and Kerrbox and Whippet from 8.30pm. The Hangout is public so anyone can watch on Google+ as it happens.
The first hangout on Monday April 30 saw Bondi Rescue become one of the Top 20 global trending topics on twitter, and lead to the Lifeguards being overrun with social media enquiries stemming from the Hangout.
Cordell Jigsaw’s Head of Sales, Kristin Burgham says the projects with Google offer an exciting way to interact with fans and gain new ones. “We are strengthening the audience of Bondi Rescue worldwide – targeting non-traditional television viewers, who we believe will tune in to engage more fully with the show and the network screening it – wherever in the world they live.”
The program’s international distribution continues expanding, with recent sales of the series to National Geographic Channels in Asia, the Middle East, Italy and Iberia; Nelonen Media in Finland; NRK in Norway; SBS in The Netherlands and SKY in New Zealand.
The show’s online community is also growing rapidly – increasing by 540% in the last two months. It now boasts over 80,000 Facebook fans, 11,500 Google+ friends, 7,300 Twitter followers, and its YouTube video channel has received over 2.2 million video views. Australia is still its biggest fan base, with the UK and USA second and third respectively.
Bondi Rescue won the Logie Award for Most Popular Factual Program five years running from 2007 to 2011.
BONDI RESCUE 8pm Mondays on TEN