NCAA March Madness on Demand achieves record breaking first day of traffic
3.4 million hours of live streaming video & audio consumed, the largest single day of traffic for a live sports event on the Internet Redesigned “Boss Button” a major hit with viewers
CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports and the NCAA, released traffic statistics for NCAA March Madness on Demand (mmod.ncaa.com) for the first day of the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. In total, there were 3.4 million hours of live streaming video and audio consumed, over 20% growth versus 2009 figures, by 3 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players. Both figures represent the largest single day of traffic for a live sport event on the Internet.
Additionally, the NCAA March Madness on Demand “Boss Button” was clicked over 1.7 million times on the first day the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The “Boss Button”, which was redesigned for the 2010 tournament, hides the live video action on the screen and silences the audio, replacing it with a “business-like” image. The 2010 Boss Button was designed by cartoonist Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic.
NCAA March Madness on Demand traffic figures through Thursday, March 18
– 3.4 million total hours of live streaming video and audio consumed
– 3 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players
– 1.7 million clicks of the “Boss Button” – over 60% of the total clicks of the Boss Button for the entire 2009 tournament. (2.77 million)
– The most watched game from 3/18 was the double-overtime Florida vs. BYU game with 521k hours of streaming video and audio. That’s +50%
over 2009′s most watched game from the first day of the first round (Washington vs. Mississippi State) which had 348k hours of streaming.
– The most watched hour yesterday was 2:00-2:59 p.m. ET with 533k streaming hours (16% of the total for the day). It peaked at 2:45 p.m. with 147k streaming hours between 2:45 and 2:59 p.m. ET.
“NCAA March Madness on Demand continues to regularly exceed our expectations,” said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports. “It is the perfect combination of programming and the Internet. Our ability to successfully develop the product alongside steady growth in streaming programming for the Internet and wireless content provides many options and truly maximizes the Network’s NCAA bundled rights agreement.”
“The continuing evolution of NCAA March Madness on Demand gives our fans even more reasons to stay connected to the tournament on a daily basis,” said Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president for basketball and business strategies. “Tremendous first round games, enhanced features in the MMOD player and solid early traffic numbers all point towards an exciting few weeks to come.”
“With a number of thrilling finishes yesterday, there was little doubt we would set another new record as March Madness on Demand provided millions of fans with the ability to follow all the action,” said Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com.
As was the case in 2009, CBSSports.com has again provided a standard video player in addition to offering viewers the ability to upgrade to a high-quality video player delivering an enhanced video stream. New for 2010, both NCAA March Madness on Demand video players provide viewers the ability to show statistical overlays on top of live video action, displaying tournament and game leaders in categories such as points, assists, rebounds, and 3-pointers.
In 2010, CBSSports.com has once again distributed NCAA March Madness on Demand across the Internet with its Developer Platform, allowing sites to link directly into the MMOD video player. The network of sites participating in the NCAA March Madness on Demand Developer Platform in 2010 include popular news, entertainment, sports and social media sites such as CNN.com, ESPN.com and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ncaamarchmadnessondemand); CBS Interactive properties including TV.com, CBS.com, CNET.com and GameSpot.com; as well as other partners across the CBS Audience Network and sites for CBS television and radio stations and affiliates.
NCAA March Madness on Demand is the Emmy award-winning video player that provides live streaming video and audio of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. MMOD shows live video all 63 games, from the first round of the tournament through the semifinal and final games of the Men’s Final Four® making it the only major sporting event that is broadcast live and in its entirety for free on the Internet. In addition to live video, NCAA March Madness on Demand also provides live audio from the Westwood One radio broadcasts of the entire NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
HDNet to broadcast live coverage of the 2010 College Basketball Invitational
Network to air LIVE coverage of this exciting NCAA contest for the second straight year
HDNet and The Gazelle Group are pleased to announce the network’s coverage of the upcoming 2010 College Basketball Invitational.
The College Basketball Invitational will consist of 16 teams not selected for the NCAA Tournament. The teams will be invited based upon performance during their conference and non-conference schedule, as well as how they are playing at the end of the regular season. Bracketing will be done geographically into four regions of the country (East, West, South, Midwest) to minimize missed class time. Brackets will be balanced competitively within each region.
The College Basketball Invitational bracket will be announced on the evening of Sunday, March 14.
The “professor” Rich Cellini is once again paired with former collegiate and NBA star Craig Ehlo as one of HDNet’s two broadcast teams. Ehlo played for Washington State and then went on to an outstanding 14-year career as a shooting guard in the NBA.
The network’s second team includes long time HDNet play-by-play announcer, the award-winning Kenny Rice, who is joined by former NCAA player and two-time Division II NCAA championship coach Wayne Chapman. After an outstanding career at Western Kentucky University, Chapman played professionally in the American Basketball Association from 1968-72. Chapman has been an NBA scout for the last decade.
The event will be played under a single-elimination format, up until the Championship Series, with all games being played at campus sites. The Championship Series will be a best-of-three series in which the higher seed will host two games should a third be necessary.
The College Basketball Invitational will feature the following:
March 16 and 17
– HDNet will broadcast two games LIVE each night at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET
– There are a total of eight Opening Round games at campus sites
– Two games will be played on March 16, six games will be played on March 17
March 22
– HDNet will broadcast two games LIVE at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET
– The tournament now features four Quarterfinal Round games at campus sites
March 24
– HDNet will broadcast two semi-final games
– Both will air LIVE at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET
All College Basketball Invitational Championship Series (March 29, March 31 and April 2) championship games LIVE on HDNet at 8:00 p.m. ET
This marks the third season of the CBI. Previous winners of the tournament are Tulsa (’08) and Oregon State (’09).
Peak Sport and NBA kicks off Peak NBA Youth Basketball Development Plan
Strived to Cultivate Reserve Forces for China Basketball Industry
Peak Sport held a grand ceremony on 21 January 2010 in Beijing to announce the kick off of “Peak – NBA Youth Basketball Development Plan“, which aims to cultivate reserve forces for the China basketball industry and further promote its development.
“Peak – NBA Youth Basketball Development Plan” is a large-scale nationwide basketball promotion campaign jointly launched by Peak Sport and NBA. “Peak NBA 5 on 5 Basketball Tournament” will be the highlight of the Project. The targeted participants of the tournament are the young basketball enthusiasts aged between 18 and 24. Matches will be held in 12 major cities all over the country including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Xi’an, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Shenyang, Chengdu, Chongqing and Qingdao. The winning team from each city will join a comprehensive NBA training camp conducted by athletes and coaches from NBA, NBDL and WNBA, and will undergo a series of professional basketball training. During the training, the participants will have a chance to play in courts with NBA stars Jason Kidd and Ron Artest. All the winning teams will compete in the National Final and the champion will visit the US, watching the home matches of the Lakers team and the team’s pre- match training. The visit will provide a great opportunity for the participants to learn the world-class techniques from the NBA stars. They may even have a chance to have dinner with Ron Artest.
With respect to the kick off of “Peak – NBA Youth Basketball Development Plan“, Mr. XU Zhihua, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Peak Sport, said: “We have been contributing our effort to the development of the basketball industry for the Chinese youth for years. However, as the events held in the past were not systematic and inter-related to each other, the promotional effect might not be maximized. The launching of “Peak – NBA Youth Basketball Development Plan” is an important development strategy of Peak Sport, which consolidates the Company’s basketball promotional activities into a planned and systematic long term development project, and it also helps raise the standard of the China basketball industry to an international level.” Mr. Xu considered that apart from being a social responsibility which a branded sport products company should take in the fast-growing economy of China, the project also helps enhance the exchange of basketball culture between China and the overseas. Meanwhile, the project is a long term strategy to enable Peak Sport to maintain its unique positioning in the China professional sport products market, to boost its brand recognition, and to increase its market share.
Source: Peak Sport Products Co., Limited
NBA at-home viewing just got better with Verizon FiOS TV’s NBA LEAGUE PASS Widget
Verizon FiOS TV – the ultimate home-entertainment experience – is now providing an enhanced NBA viewing experience. The advanced, all-fiber-optic TV service now includes a free NBA LEAGUE PASS Widget, which lets fans order NBA LEAGUE PASS – the league’s subscription package of up to 40 out-of-market live NBA games per week – directly from their remote control.
In addition, the widget will give fans instant access to headline news, player reports, game-time alerts and more throughout the basketball season.
“FiOS TV is an NBA fan’s courtside seat at home,” said Shawn Strickland, vice president of consumer strategy for Verizon. “In addition to top NBA programming on NBA LEAGUE PASS and NBA TV, our new widget provides fans with statistics and news from around the league.”
The NBA LEAGUE PASS Widget is located in FiOS TV’s innovative Widget Bazaar applications marketplace. Once launched, the interactive application is displayed on the right side of the screen next to the program the subscriber is watching.
NBA TV, the NBA’s 24-hour digital television network, offers more than 100 live NBA games and signature studio shows featuring an Emmy Award-winning roster of announcers. The network is a fan’s all-access channel for everything about basketball, delivering breaking news, statistics and original programming – in both standard definition and HD. NBA TV is available at no additional charge as part of FiOS TV’s Extreme HD package, Verizon’s most popular offering, together with ESPN HD, NFL Network HD and other popular programming services.
Verizon is the only company in the U.S. to bring 100 percent fiber optics straight to the home, delivering America’s top-rated broadband with download connections speeds of up to 50 megabits per second, more pure HD TV channels, amazing picture-and-sound quality, and interactive capabilities that cable can’t match.
FiOS TV offers a broad collection of programming, with more than 500 all-digital channels, including more than 127 HD channels, and more than 18,000 monthly VOD titles. FiOS provides next-generation interactive services including an advanced interactive media guide; news, entertainment and social TV Widgets; remote DVR management; multi-room DVR; and more.
Source: Verizon
Livestream chosen by Horizon League to stream hundreds of Division 1 College Basketball Games Live
Exclusive Deal Expands Athletics Customer Base; Follows Launch of Livestream Sports Solutions Division
The Horizon League and WebStream Productions Inc. have chosen Livestream, the leading live Internet video platform, to broadcast hundreds of regular-season, NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s college basketball games beginning November 13.
Under the exclusive deal, live game broadcasts will be available for free viewing at www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv along with regularly updated highlights and on-demand content.
“We are excited to partner with Livestream on the new Horizon League Network site. The power of their video platform including live streaming, on-demand content, automatic recording, archiving and APIs make Livestream the perfect fit for the Horizon League,” said John Servizzi, president of WebStream Productions.
The partnership is the latest in association with the recently launched Livestream Sports Solutions division, which is focused on delivering best-of-breed live streaming partnerships for athletic organizations. The Horizon League, with its perennial slate of NCAA Championship contenders, joins a growing number of leagues and networks that rely on Livestream for sports webcasting, including the CollegeFanz Sports Network, National Lacrosse League and the Kansas City Chiefs NFL franchise.
“This partnership with the Horizon League and WebStream Productions is yet another example of how Livestream technology is transforming the way sports organizations bring live video to their fans,” said Max Haot, CEO of Livestream. “We are excited to be working with WebStream Productions on their coverage of Horizon League athletics and look forward to helping other sports organizations do the same.”
“We are pleased to partner with WebStream Productions and Livestream to bring our fans and alumni a high-quality, live streaming video experience,” said Horizon League Commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone. “The Horizon League Network is a vital marketing and communications platform. Our partners are helping us maximize its potential.”
Source: Livestream
U.S. Wheelchair Basketball Team wins Gold Medal in Australia
8 players, 4 coaches from Courage Center Rolling Timberwolves team
A wheelchair basketball team representing the United States is home after winning a Gold Medal at the inaugural Australian Paralympic Youth Games in Melbourne, Australia. The wheelchair basketball team included eight athletes and four coaches, past and present, who compete on Courage Center’s Rolling Timberwolves. The Paralympic competition took place October 5-11 at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre and included teams from throughout Australia plus international teams of athletes age 20 years or younger.
The U.S. team was undefeated, going 7-0 in competition against five Australian teams. In the final game, Team U.S.A. was behind by two points at halftime, but pulled ahead by 6 points at the end of the 3rd quarter, keeping the pressure on to defeat Western Australia’s Westies 68-53.
Derrick Bisnett of Bismarck, N.D., led the team with 118 points, with Minneapolis’ Ben Kenyon scoring 64. Head Coach Mike Bauler was recognized as “Head Supervisor” of the tournament.
The U.S. roster includes:
(* Courage Center representative)
Athletes
Greg Anger, 20, Milwaukee, Wis., Missouri Tigers
*Robert Doyle, 16, Eden Prairie, Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
*Ben Kenyon, 18, Minnetonka, Minn., Wisconsin-Whitewater (Courage Center alum)
Dylan Fischbach, 14, Nebraska Red Dawgs, South Dakota
*Joe Dixon, 16, Lakeville, Minn., Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
Jon Ruiz, 15, Chicago, Ill., Windy City Warriors
*Mark Braun, 15, Mounds View, Minn., Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
*Rose Hollermann, 13, Elysian, Minn., Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
*Derrick Bisnett, 16, Bismarck, N.D., Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
*Robbie Wilhelm, 18, St. Paul, Minn., Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
*Connor Downes, 18, Rosemount, Minn., Missouri Tigers (Courage Center alum)
Sam Blakley, 16, Utah, Utah Wheelin’ Jazz
Staff
*Mike Bauler, Head coach, New Hope, Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
Trent Thenhaus, assistant coach, Chicago, Ill., Windy City Warriors
*Brendan Downes, assistant coach, Rosemount, Minn., Arizona Wildcats
*Jeff Downes, team manager, Dallas, Texas, Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
*Tim Kenyon, assistant team manager, Minnetonka, Minn., Courage Center Junior Rolling Timberwolves
More Info: www.wsv.org.au/events/australian-paralympic-youth-games.html
Scott Burrell promotes children’s fitness during ING Hartford Marathon weekend
Basketball champion teams up with ING Run For Something Better program to encourage young people to lead healthier lives
Former professional basketball player Scott Burrell will trade his high-tops for a pair of orange laces and running shoes as he joins over 1,000 students in Bushnell Park to celebrate ING Run For Something Better Day on Friday, October 9.
Burrell will help spread a positive message to young people about the benefits of health and fitness in connection with the ING Hartford Marathon, which takes place on Saturday morning, October 10.
“As a college coach and a former pro ball player, I know the importance of staying healthy and fit. Unfortunately, too many young people in our country aren’t getting enough physical activity and exercise,” said Burrell. “The great thing about running is that just about anyone can do it. You don’t need a lot of equipment, and you don’t have to be a professional athlete. I’m happy to see a company like ING making a difference and helping children take a positive step toward healthier lives.”
ING Run For Something Better Day takes place at Hartford’s Bushnell Park on Friday, October 9. The race is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. For more information, visit www.inghartfordmarathon.com.
The ING Run For Something Better program is a national initiative established by financial services leader ING. As a sponsor of premier running events across the U.S., ING has been promoting youth fitness by providing grants and funding to school-based running and health education programs.
In the Hartford area, the ING Run For Something Better program is managed by the Hartford Marathon Foundation. Students from participating schools train by running their own version of a half marathon, covering 13.1 miles in 6 weeks. Those who complete 12 miles prior to marathon weekend are invited to ING Run For Something Better Day where they run their last 1.1 “final mile” in Bushnell Park, crossing over the official ING Hartford Marathon Finish Line. They also receive a finisher’s medal and enjoy lunch as they experience the “World of Fitness” exhibits and activities.
Childhood obesity has become a serious health concern in the United States. Educating kids about the importance of living an active and healthy life is the cornerstone of the ING Run For Something Better.
Since 2003, over 50,000 children have participated in ING Run For Something Better programs across the country. Children in these programs have reached a milestone of running more than 1.5 million miles.
Those interested in following the latest news and updates on the ING Run For Something Better program can do so on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OrangeLaces as well as by visiting a newly launched ING Facebook page (search “ING Run For Something Better” on Facebook).
Source: ING Americas