Second-Screening March Madness in 2015

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It’s that time of year again: this evening, the first two of the First Four games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament - March Madness - begin. At 6:30 p.m. EST on TruTV, the Hampton Pirates will take on the Manhattan Jaspers. Whether it’s viewing the games on a television set or a mobile device, there are several factors to consider in regards to this year’s broadcast.

In 2014, Turner Sports unveiled a new viewing feature: the “teamcast,” which allows those watching the Final Four to receive specific commentary in regards to the team of their choosing.

Describing his happiness with how it worked last time around Turner Broadcasting President David Levy stated that it would be expanded in 2015.

“You'll see a different graphic treatment around it this year, more marketing around it, more use of social media and so forth," Levy said.

Once again, the NCAA® March Madness® Live app will be rolled out for Android, Windows, Amazon and iOS, albeit with some new upgrades.

Among the updated features, according to the official app description:

*Satisfy your team fan loyalties, learn about the Cinderellas, and research your bracket with the all-new team pages.
*Featured section allows fans to discover the tournament’s best storylines and relive classic March Madness moments.
*It’s never been easier to make bracket picks on your phone. Choose between list view for quick picking and bracket view for that timeless look and feel.

Of interest to this year’s March Madness is the record amount of advertising dollars raised, particularly for digital platforms.

“With the ability to watch the games on their smartphones and tablets, people don’t have to sit in front of their desktops anymore, so they can watch from anywhere,” said Jon Diament, executive VP of Turner Sports ad sales.

Approximately $85 million has been raised, which is a 20 percent increase over 2014.

Snapchat may also be making an impact, how viewers or even game attendees will fully utilize this still seems undetermined, though.

“[It] is one of many social platforms with which Turner Sports is partnering to support our main digital offerings around the tournament which include March Madness Live, NCAA.com, Bleacher Report and CBSSports.com,” Jeff Mirman, vice president of marketing for Turner Sports, said.

The accuracy of enhanced entertainment metadata used by apps, as well as cable companies, telecoms and others is also important to the drama that unfolds during March Madness.

A series of unfortunate errors have already been spotted. It would be wise to ensure that your sports and basketball-related content doesn't end up like the following situations.

Here, for example, the Pepperdine Waves are mistaken by this metadata provider for the San Diego Toreros. Whoops!



And this metadata supplier is under the impression that a player’s first name is ‘John’ (it’s actually Alec).



A terrible typo by a metadata provider has ‘Old Dominion’ listed as ‘Old Domenion.’



Perhaps the most egregious metadata mishap occurred over the weekend. Someone thought that the University of Arizona was playing against Kentucky…when it was actually Arkansas. Arizona isn’t even an SEC school. How does this happen?




Luckily, AT&T U-Verse viewers, armed with top-notch metadata provided by FYI Television, had no disastrous blunders or defects with their entertainment content, as observed below.



Get in touch by clicking the banner to learn more, and don’t end up with faulty information on your screens.

Author: Brian Cameron


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