Ventuz Counts the Cash at RTL’s Charity Marathon

The annual Charity Marathon hosted by European broadcast giant RTL is a well-established TV event in Germany. This year, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the program decided to upgrade its in-studio installations. Cliparts.TV Interactive Media, provider of interactive media technology, equipped the studio with a data-heavy Ventuz installation.

The event took place over a period of 30 hours on November 20th and 21st. Viewers were asked to call the hotline to speak to a number of celebrities in the studio and donate money to fund children’s charity programs all over the world. The sum of all donations was continuously displayed on a Ventuz installation which consisted of eight screens in portrait mode. Each screen was reserved for one digit. As the donations came in, the digits were animated in a rotating fashion as is known from many household counters. To make sure the information was always up to date, the Ventuz based system by Cliparts.TV received the information live from RTL’s database.

Over the course of the 30-hour event, each of RTL’s shows aired during that time made an effort to raise money and awareness for the cause. Additionally, special programs were created, such as a charity run and live events in many German cities. Upon each full hour, the program switched back into the live studio to check on the status. On these occasions, many German organizations took the opportunity to visit the studio in person and bring in special donations. For this purpose, the host was equipped with a Windows tablet running a separate Ventuz installation which allowed him to type in the donated amount and send it via WiFi into the database and from there onto the big Charity Counter with practically no delay.

Cliparts.TV chose Ventuz for this event due to its extensive abilities in data handling and visualization, but also because the 30-hour event required a fail-safe system that would operate flawlessly over the entire duration of the program. Ventuz did not disappoint, and the 20th RTL Charity Marathon closed with a record amount, breaking the eight-digit ceiling for the very first time in its history.