What does Interactive Voice Response (IVR) mean?
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated telephone system that uses pre-recorded voice prompts and touch-tone or voice recognition inputs to interact with callers. In the entertainment industry, IVR systems are used for hotlines, casting information lines, audience voting on reality shows, and talent availability check-in systems. For actors, IVR appears most directly in the context of reality television — audience voting systems for competitions like singing or dancing shows are almost universally delivered via IVR technology.
Example:A network reality show used an IVR system to manage audience voting, allowing viewers to call a toll-free number and press a number to vote for their favorite contestant — with the system automatically tallying millions of votes per episode.
Example: A casting office set up a simple IVR information line so that parents could call to get updated information on audition dates and locations without needing to speak with a staff member directly.
Did you know?
The American Idol audience voting system, which became famous in the early 2000s, was one of the largest IVR deployments in television history. At its peak, the show received over 95 million votes per episode — all processed through IVR telephone lines and later supplemented by app and online voting.
You can also find “Interactive Voice Response (IVR)” and related terms in this category: TV and Commercials.
