AUSTIN, TX — (Marketwire) — 10/10/12 — Mass Relevance, the technology leader in social curation and integration, today announced it is collaborating with the Big Ten Network (BTN) on a ground-breaking social, second-screen experience for Big Ten fans called BTN CONNECT, sponsored by Buick.
BTN CONNECT integrates social content to offer fans exciting new ways to interact with the schools they love and the network that covers them best. BTN CONNECT puts fans completely in control of their experience as they tap into the stats, buzz and social chatter surrounding their favorite Big Ten schools — before, during and after the game.
“BTN has a heritage of technology innovation, launching in full HD back in 2007,” said Sam Decker, founder and CEO of Mass Relevance. “Now they are leading the second-screen movement by acknowledging their fans are ready for real-time interaction and engagement around the schools and sports they love. From this experience, college football fans and various alumni are able to participate in the conversation and show support for their favorite teams from anywhere in the world.”
BTN utilizes CONNECT-s real-time social conversations and statistics in live event broadcasts and studio coverage, extending a digital experience into a multi-platform experience.
“To develop a second screen experience that would entertain 12 rival fan bases, we knew we had to make it relevant and customizable to each visitor,” said BTN Director of Social Media Mike Vest. “Working with Mass Relevance, we bring the most interesting second-screen activities from around the web under one umbrella. BTN CONNECT gives our viewers a single destination to participate in our telecasts, track the social chatter and engage with fellow fans, media, BTN talent and sponsors. For a sponsor like Buick, it is a golden opportunity to fully integrate their own relevant social content into the site in a meaningful way to a social-savvy audience.”
Since its Aug. 31 launch, BTN CONNECT has curated and displayed nearly 500,000 tweets about the Big Ten, and the page-s traffic doubled between Sept. 8 and Sept. 22. BTN is already pacing ahead of last year-s ratings for football telecasts.
BTN CONNECT features 13 tabs, one for each of the 12 universities in the conference, plus a composite landing page. Each tab contains eight interactive pieces of social content including multi streams, polls, trends, spotlight tweets, a mad-lib, photo wall and social rankings, plus a live game stats module, powered by Stats, Inc.
BTN CONNECT is accessible anywhere, including via smartphones and tablets, whether fans are watching the game at home or in the stadium. It provides an engaging platform for fans to participate during each of BTN-s 40-plus live football games. For instance, fans can take part in a hashtag battle to voice their opinions or cast a vote using a specified hashtag. (Example: ).
BTN CONNECT-s functionality will go well beyond football season, capturing the year-round social conversation generated by the more than 900 events that BTN will produce live throughout the 2012-13 academic year.
Based in Austin, Texas, Mass Relevance enables entertainment, media, retail, and manufacturing brands to drive real-time engagement through social curation and integration. In the past nine months alone, Mass Relevance has delivered more than three billion pieces of social content to multiple digital surfaces (curated from over nine billion pieces flowing through the Mass Relevance platform) to support iconic events like the Super Bowl and Academy Awards, launches such as The Avengers and Madonna MDNA, and television phenoms American Idol, X-Factor, 80 Plates and The Voice. The company serves more than 125 clients including “Big Four” television networks, seven of the top 10 2011 cable networks, as well as top brands like Target, Cisco, Ford, Samsung, New York Giants, Pepsi, Purell and Victoria-s Secret.
The company is privately held with venture capital funding. For more information, please visit the company-s website at , on Facebook and at Twitter.
A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, BTN is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With more than 800 events, all in HD, the 24/7 network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. Events include football, men-s and women-s basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; studio shows; coaches- shows; and classic games. The network televises and streams more Olympic sporting events and women-s sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation-s finest universities. The groundbreaking Student U initiative provides real-world experience for students interested in careers in sports television. The network is available to more than 80 million homes across the United States and Canada, and currently has agreements with more than 300 affiliates, including AT&T U-Verse, Atlantic Broadband, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Rogers Cable (Canada), Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct (Canada), Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. For updated information, go to .
Erica Cenci
Brady PR for Mass Relevance
Phone: 402-889-2674
Email:
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