NEW synergy between media heralds innovative T2O (TV to online) mode that lets fans find fashion, bedding and other items from popular series like “My Sunshine” online.

Aggie Sun is a huge fan of “My Sunshine,” a romantic TV series based on a hit online novel. She likes it so much that she has added to her wardrobe a striped T-shirt that is worn by the lead role.

“I just scanned Dragon TV’s logo and it immediately connected me to the Taobao shop selling things related to ‘My Sunshine’,” says the human resources worker in her 20s. “I also consider buying a multifunctional floor lamp.

“Shopping while watching TV is an experimental but exciting way for me. It shortens the distance between audiences and their idols and makes watching TV less monotonous,” says the Shanghai native.

Since its debut last weekend, “My Sunshine” has attracted a big audience nationwide with its star-studded cast, poetic scenes and sentimental plot.

The series’ collaboration with Alibaba Group has also enhanced its appeal with viewers, mostly the post-1980s and 1990s generations. While watching the series, TV fans can scan the logo of Dragon TV through a smartphone and quickly log onto an interactive fashion platform of Tmall, where they can find all the details about the fashionable costumes of the characters.

Familiar scenes of the series are posted, and viewers can buy clothes, shoes and accessories online. Audiences also can get quick access to cosmetics, bedding and home decorations found in the series.

This new approach is expected to evolve traditional marketing and the profit model of television to a novel T2O (TV to online) mode in this cross-media era. In fact, the collaboration plan between local TV and e-commerce websites was released at last year’s Shanghai TV Festival.

Dragon TV announced it would work with Alibaba on content development, marketing and e-commerce. It also hopes that the content of its reality TV shows can be used as the inspiration for video games and apps.

Industry insiders say it’s a win-win situation. Products of both parts can be reinforced with each other and a fresh and more interactive experience is presented for the viewers. The cross-over cooperation is thought to be full of business opportunities.

This does not mark the first time items from a TV production have been made available simultaneously on Tmall.

Before “My Sunshine,” Tmall had cooperated with such popular reality and variety shows as Hunan Satellite TV’s “Where Are We Going, Dad?” and Dragon TV’s “Goddess’s New Clothes.”

‘A Bite of China’ online

Audiences can find all the eye-catching costumes and accessories of the celebrity fathers and their children. Based on the travel routes and itineraries of each episode, the website also offers vacation and camping packages for the show’s fans.

Last year when the second season of the documentary series “A Bite of China” was showing on China Central Television,

Tmall provided more than 100 original food ingredients and delicacies featured in the series, including wild honey, rice wine, bean paste and fish sauce. Special recipes of the dishes are also released on the website.

The series’ production team has also participated in the selection and censoring of the items to ensure an authentic flavor and quality. The popularity and credibility of the series boosted the sales of the ingredients. Some even launched pre-sales to meet the demand.

Echo Wei, a local advertising manager and media professional, notes that traditional media are now in an important phase of transition. The boundaries between television and new media are breaking down.

She says that in the long run, TV’s collaboration with e-commerce websites will enhance audience participation and interactivity.

“It can spark people’s creativity in omnimedia and bring new vitality to traditional TV programs,” Wei adds. But she also sounds a warning about the integrity of the TV productions.

“Producers still need to moderate their use of product placement and carefully selected out appropriate items to be promoted on the websites,” she says. “It should never be conducted at the cost of a program’s artistry and quality; otherwise people will get bored of this mode very soon.”

Yuan Yemin, an official with Dragon TV, says selling costumes from the series on Tmall is a brand-new attempt for the channel and that it expects to apply this cooperative mode to other kinds of TV series, even costume dramas.

“We can design a series of creative byproducts of the series which enable viewers of today to experience the lives of ancient people,” Yuan says. “Costumes with ancient fashion elements can also have a strong visual appeal to them.”

Extra fun

He adds that they will choose the series in which the stars and story have a big fan base of young people. These series are ideal for product placements, interactivity and byproduct development.

The goal is to add extra fun to people’s traditional viewing experience and attract a larger number of young people back to the TV set from computers and tablets.

Ying Hong, an official from Tmall. com, says it’s easy to see the influence of pop icons. The cooperation has made real progress in a short period of time in marketing, sales, advertising and branding.

“We hope that our collaboration with TV can bring about some chemistry to the audiences, making T2O a new fad of today,” says Ying. “In the future, we will also work with films and radio programs.”

Over the years, television as a traditional medium has spared no effort to innovate to compete for audience and profit. It has cooperated with new media in many ways to achieve mutual synergy and create a fresh, more interactive experience.

In 2012, Dragon TV launched a 3D 24-hour online community for its popular dating show “One Out of 100.” The platform enables Internet users to communicate with singles on the show in an effort to find their Mr or Ms Right.

The game show “The Cube” also developed related computer and smartphone games that presented players with challenges similar to those faced by TV contestants.

The hairstyles designed by contestants in the Chinese version of the American reality show “Shear Genius” were also tried on by a lot of people through mobile application.