Big Brother Canada was the Canadian version of the American original which pitted contestants against each other to be the last one standing in the house. The show allowed viewers to connect with a 24 hour free live stream to watch the drama unfold. The website operated as a second screen, allowing users to interact with the show.
At Secret Location we had to cover three main areas. Watching the live feeds, playing the game, and learning about about the show. The goal was to attract new fans and keeping dedicated viewers engaged throughout the season. With the game users could make predictions on what would happen that week, and spend points to influence the house guests.
I worked on the site foundation, responsive behaviour and CMS integration. Part of the site was managed with WordPress, allowing editors a simple platform to update and create content. For security and performance purposes this CMS was on another server and the pages would be generated and cached for the production site.
Not to panic when things go wrong. When the site initially launched with the first season of the show in the Spring of 2013, it was much more popular than initially anticipated. The live feeds and the second screen game were a big hit and brought the site down a few times. With server upgrades and performance enhancements we found a proper balance for long term stability.
