College Basketball Fans Score Big With New NCAA March Madness Fan Zone App Powered by AT&T
Track Scores, Chat with other Fans about Teams, Games and More
AT&T today announced the availability of the new NCAA March Madness Fan Zone app, powered by AT&T. The free app is available today for all NCAA Basketball fans – regardless of carrier – across select Android devices.
The app integrates user’s conversations with real-time NCAA Basketball scores, news and rankings through the regular season and Men’s Final Four. Fans of all Division I teams can post messages on team and game-specific groups, create private groups and invite friends to any group via Facebook, Twitter or SMS.
To join the college hoops conversation, just download the free app and choose the teams that you want to follow. Fans can cheer, rant, make predictions, chat with friends, partake in post-game analysis and even upload photos in posts.
NCAA March Madness Fan Zone is available for free on Android Market today. Fans can text BB to 483353 to receive a direct link to download the app on their phone. (Messaging and data rates apply. Compatible device required.)
AT&T is the exclusive wireless partner of the NCAA.
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.
PlayOn brings NCAA March Madness to the Living Room Television
MediaMall Technologies, Inc. announced that its PlayOn(TM) software will enable customers to watch all 32 first round NCAA Men’s basketball tournament games, as well as subsequent rounds, on their television. PlayOn software leverages the existing technology found in over 40% of U.S. households; PCs and gaming consoles. PlayOn beams Internet video content from the PC to the Television via the gaming console.
“The technology sounds complicated, but the user experience is very simple. It typically takes our customers about five minutes to install the software and be up and running,” comments David Karlton, MediaMall Technologies’ CTO.
Support for NCAA March Madness marks a milestone for the company as, along with the ability for customers to watch MLB.tv, it marks the company’s first foray into live television. The company launched PlayOn over a year ago with support for streaming stalwarts such as Hulu, Netflix, CNN, and more.
“Our customers have been loud and clear – ‘We want sports,’” remarks CEO Jeff Lawrence. “Nearly 40% of our customers have cancelled cable, and they miss live sports. What better way to launch PlayOn into the world of sports than to bring the most popular annual tournament in the U.S. to the TV? We are particularly excited about this as, until now, fans have been required to purchase expensive packages in order to ensure they could see the games they wanted to see on their TV. With PlayOn they will be able to watch any game in the opening round they choose, in their living room, on their TV, without paying any subscription or package fees — the way sports is meant to be.”
PlayOn also enables customers to watch MLB.tv on their TV and has announced forthcoming support for NHL games. Existing customers simply need to ensure they have the latest release of the software in order to have access to these channels. New customers can get a free 14-day trial by visiting www.playon.tv. PlayOn retails for a one-time charge of $39.99. MediaMall states that over one-third of their customers claim to have cancelled cable and that 40% profess to using PlayOn daily.