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Future of TV Vast Media The X-Files

Do you still want to believe? Fox makes big digital push for 'X-Files' relaunch

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By Henner Herwig Jürgens, Managing Director

January 26, 2016 | 3 min read

Henner Herwig Jürgens is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at VAST MEDIA, a media research and consulting company based in Berlin that provides international television industry leaders with qualitative competitive market analysis of digital entertainment and content marketing.

On Sunday, science fiction drama "The X-Files" returned to FOX as a six-episode event series. The series, which originally aired from 1993 to 2002, follows special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate paranormal phenomena and extraterrestrial life for the FBI. In anticipation of the premiere, FOX launched the interactive website 'Do You Still Want to Believe?' (a reference to the original series' slogan 'I Want to Believe'), providing fans with a first look at the opening minute of the new "The X-Files" and the opportunity to share their excitement about the upcoming show.

When entering the page, users are first presented with an exclusive look at the opening scene of "The X-Files", in which main character Fox Mulder explains his persistent obsession with paranormal phenomena. After users have watched the one-minute opening scene, they are guided to the 'Join the Conversation' section, where a 'X' consisting of fan tweets appears on screen. On mouse-over over the 'X', users can explore the show-related tweets.

Users are also encouraged to join the conversation themselves by creating an image with the message 'I still want to believe' which can be downloaded or shared on Twitter with the dedicated hashtag #TheXFiles.

To provide fans with yet another way to show that they still want to believe, FOX also partnered with iPhone app Giphy Cam to release series-inspired filters, making "The X-Files" the first TV show to partner with the app. The specially introduced filters that users can now integrate into their GIFs – 10 in total – for example include an UFO, a FBI badge, aliens and the series’ logo. The GIFs can easily be shared across social networks and messaging services.

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Future of TV Vast Media The X-Files

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