What is Arrow NewMedia?
Arrow NewMedia Inc. is a consulting and development company based in Charlottesville, Virginia. They describe themselves as "magnets for the web." They help clients ranging from Playboy to Sesame Street attract and retain users.

What is the Real-Time Rating Tool™
The Real-Time Rating Tool (RTRT) is a proprietary dynamic polling/rating program developed by Arrow NewMedia and Gleem.com. It is available across one or more platforms, including interactive TV, the Web, and wireless devices. The RTRT application allows thousands of users to vote on or rate an event or show in real-time and immediately and continually view the accumulated tally. Voting can be as frequent as every five seconds, creating a timeline of valuable and interesting data. Click here for demo.

Who do we contact for more information?
You can email Salesforce@ArrowNewMedia.com with your requests.

What Technology does the RTRT use?
The User Interface is written in Macromedia's Flash. This program is viewable by over 98% of internet users. The backend is a sophisticated database that lets us break up the data in a variety of ways. Reports can be generated showing how people responded by age, location and other parameters. Click here for sample data graph.

Is the Sampling Scientific?
The same principles that apply to scientific polling can be applied to setting up evaluation groups with the RTRT. The sign-in process can gather and assess the user pool. Or the RTRT can be used just for fun or for anecdotal feedback. Due to time constraints in putting together this event, this is the case for the Super Bowl evaluation. Arrow NewMedia is gathering data and making it available for entertainment purposes. It is not based on a scientific sampling, but instead is based on responses from a random assemblage of programmers, users and other members of our user base.

How many people can participate?
The system can be set up to handle hundreds of thousands of users. The largest test group to date was over 30,000. More users simply mean adding more servers.

How can this be used by news organizations?
By creating a statistically valid user sample, the RTRT can provide up to the minute feedback on events and news. The "Rate the State" is a good example. It's possible to find out immediate from a large sample how viewers feel about different elements of an event. Also, even if the tool is only used "for entertainment" there is potential value. This is only anecdotal feedback, but an older evaluator of Bush's speech said "In all my years, this is the first time I've really LISTENED to a State of the Union Address. Since I had to give feedback, I wanted to make sure I paid attention to what the President was saying. It really kept me involved."

Why are you doing this?
Arrow NewMedia has made their technology available to companies like AOL, Ask Jeeves and Lifetime TV. We hope to expand the market awareness of our products. Plus, it's fun! People love giving their opinions, and this let's them do so over and over.

What's your next event?
We're planning a "Rate the Stars" as they enter the Academy Awards Ceremony on March 24th. We're looking at other opportunities and some of our clients are evaluating events or uses.

Do I need a computer in the same room as my TV?
There are several ways to participate. Interactive TV, like AOLTV, makes things easy with an all-in-one combination of TV and computer. But, a surprising number of internet surfers have their TV and computer in the same room. This is an increasingly large community. In addition, voting can be done using WAP cell phones. Arrow NewMedia is working on technology that would let viewers take part using a traditional push button phone, thereby making participation open to almost anyone. As an additional note, a recent survey by AOL showed that over 60% of users with TVs and computers in the same room like to surf and go online while they are watching TV.

What else does Arrow NewMedia do?
You can check out the "About Us" and the "Technology" sections on this web site. Also, you can go to www.ArrowNewMedia.com. We view ourselves as a solutions provider with a focus on helping clients attract and retain users. Our staff offers consulting, design and programming services. We have created games for Sesame Street and marketing tools for Playboy. Our focus is on online community--helping clients build it and keep it.

What happened to Amelia Earhart?
Sorry, we can't reveal that.

Isn't Interactive TV just pie in the sky?
The problem with Interactive TV is that most attempts to define and implement it have been by traditional media companies and personnel. And this is a case where the drive and definition are going to come from the bottom up--from the user. So, it's frustrating many of the corporate players because they can't define iTV and force it onto the audience. Our approach has been to create tools and components that users can try out. It's a trial and error process. Some tools prove popular. Others receive little interest. It's going to be an evolution rather than one solution. Arrow NewMedia is working to be part of the process.

What do you like about iTV?
Obviously, we like the RTRT. But, a great use of iTV is with a show like Survivor. The audience should be made an aggregate member of the final voting jury. Think how different the show would be if participants had to play to the audience as a potential voter. For other iTV uses, there are a number of interesting applications in use on sports channels for viewing scores and getting information. And digital cable opens up the whole "schedule your own TV" world. People have been interacting with television for decades. In the beginning, they simply yelled at the screen. Once remotes were introduced, then users really began programming their own entertainment by channel flipping. iTV is simply the next step in a logical progression. Now, you can chat with friends, interact with shows and customize your screen. Again, it's not one solution, but a set of approaches and tools. It's no longer a passive medium.

Are there any other FAQs?
Nope. We've run out of things to say. Thanks for your interest.