Turner Sports – Page 4

Beyond the Box App Seeks to Provide Customized Sports News

April 29, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Sports fans always seem to have dozens of apps dedicated to specific areas of sports that they are interested in. Apps that provide baseball broadcasts or NFL draft information are two examples and now Beyond the Box is seeking to break into that field as a sports news aggregator.

One of the knocks that some of the news services have is that they provide old news, unless you are hooked into the latest twitter feed you might be reading something that is outdated and now not relevant.

The app, designed for iPad and iPad Mini tablets promises to bring together real time, up to date news from 1,000 media sources. It also taps into 2,000 players to provide not just news but also commentary, analysis, insights, rumors, video and photos of sports figures and events.

The app enables fans to customize it according to their tastes allowing them to select teams or players to follow. It presents the news and other information in a timeline format that enables you to get either the most up to date information or pick a point at which you want to start tracing a select piece of information.

Beyond the Box is also being positioned as a perfect second screen for fans that are already watching an event and are looking for additional information, commentary or images regarding that event, or possibly on one that they are not/cannot view at the same time. It also has a Facebook, blog and twitter presence.

As the company notes it is trying to be a one stop shop for fans, but there are a number of others that also seek to provide the same type of service, from other fresh startups such as Recapp to some of the more established players in the broadcast market such as ESPN and Turner Networks’ Bleacher Report. Then of course there are specialty apps that seek to provide news for a specific sport such as Bantr for soccer.

The Beyond the Box app is from Murphy Ave. Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif. and has its roots in a program out of Stanford University called StartX Accelerator program that is designed to help new startups by exposing them to successful startup founders and an educational program that will help them succeed.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, ESPN, Facebook, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Sports Social Media Opinion Column, Startup, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: App, Apple, Bantr, Beyond the Box, Startup, Turner Sports

NBA Playoffs: Available in Live TV, Mobile and Online

April 18, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

The NBA Playoffs are around the corner and an onslaught of information and games are out there waiting for you, and the NBA along with its digital partners has organized it so that users can watch live games, catch highlights online and get full information while mobile.

The push is being orchestrated by NBA Digital, and if the name does not mean that much to you, you are are still likely to know a number of the components that make up that entity which include NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, NBA Mobile, NBADLEAGUE.com, and WNBA.com. It is jointly managed by the NBA and Turner Sports.

First up is NBA TV which will be broadcasting approximately 1,500 hours of game coverage and will offer the possibility of multi-screen coverage and as many as nine first round games as well as pre- and post-game programming. The network’s live game telecasts will tip off with the Miami Heat hosting the Milwaukee Bucks (first round, Game 2) on Tuesday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

However it should be noted that not all of the games will be on NBA TV, and if you are looking for additional information about games you have watched and others that were played that you did not see then the NBA’s web site, NBA.Com, is the place to look as it will serve as a centralized point for all playoff information including both live video coverage and video highlights.

Among the many offerings at the site a key feature will is the ability to see live games and overtime on TNT Overtime, which also includes some unique camera angles for a different view of the game. For social media fans there is also a section called Social Spotlight where you can track and contribute tweets, photos and other media.

The mobile users have a great deal of access to all of the NBA.Com features as well as ones tailored for mobile platforms. The app, NBA Game Time, is available for both Android and Apple iOS users and provides a bracket view, series dashboards, live scoring, and game alerts, among other features. A version for iPad users, NBA Game Time Sponsored by State Farm also offers synchronized video, scores and updates delivered in real-time.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Basketball, iOS, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NBA, NBA Game Time, NBC Sports, Smartphone, TNT, Turner Sports Tagged With: Android, Apple, NBA, NBA Playoffs, TNT, Turner Sports

March Madness Ended Like it Started for Mobile Users: Strongly

April 11, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

The mobile and online viewing market for the most recent MCAA Division 1 basketball tournament ended just like it started, setting records for viewership and total amount of live game video streamed to fans.

The tournament was a huge televised hit, with the final between Louisville and Michigan garnering a an average 23.4 million viewers, up 12% from last year and a 19 year high, the online virewership was also record setting.

The overall mobile and online viewership hit 49 million live video streams, an increase of 168% from last year with more than 14 million hours of live video consumed by the fans. Both of these numbers set new records.

Not surprisingly the mobile space, with the strong growth of tablets in the last year and the powerful presence of smartphones, saw very strong growth for the tournament. Minutes were up 309% for mobile phones and 194% for tablet users.

PC users still represent a strong viewing group with broadband users represented 5.8 million unique visitors who watched games from their systems and they averaged 105 minutes of live video watched per user while mobile users averaged 70 minutes.

Social media users were also out in force, with the National Championship game netting a total of 3.5 million comments across all social media monitored, up 144% from last year. For the tournament as a whole there were 16.3 million comments, up 112% from last year.

The top ranked games across digital platforms during the 2013 NCAA Tournament, based on live video streams. Interesting to note that the final was not the top game

Valparaiso vs. Michigan State – 1,844,000
Bucknell vs. Butler – 1,784,000
Mississippi vs. Wisconsin – 1,778,000
Michigan vs. Louisville – 1,620,000
Albany vs. Duke – 1,488,000

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, Duke University, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Smartphone, Sports Social Media, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: CBS, March Madness, NCAA, Turner Sports, watch March Madness online

March Madness Maintains Torrid Mobile Viewing Pace

April 3, 2013 by Greg Quick 4 Comments

This year’s March Madness has been one of the best in over two decades in terms of television viewers but it is the best all time in terms of mobile access as increasingly fans use mobile devices to track games and video of their favorite teams or hot match ups.

The first week’s results were strong, as we recounted here, and things have not only not slowed, but as the tournament heads towards its final week viewership is increasing, even with fewer matchups to view.

The mobile and online viewership, which encompasses PCs as well as tablets and smartphones, has seen a total of 12.6 million hours of video consumed, an increase of 201% from last year with a total of 45 million live video streams for the first two weeks of the tournament, this represents a 158% increase over last year’s tournament viewership. Last year the event registered 18.3 million live video streams for the entire tournament last year.

Breaking it down to exactly what platforms are drawing the most users shows that broadband had 5 million unique visitors, up 139% while mobile apps had 3.2 million unique visitors, up 93% compared to the entire tournament last year.

If you have not viewed the games from the tournament on a mobile device but are interested there are several options. The March Madness Live app was developed in a partnership that included the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports and can be launched from CBSsports.com, NCAA.com/marchmadness or bleacherreport.com for computers and the mobile app is available from both the App Store and Google Play.

NCAA March Madness Live app has ranked No. 1 as the top sports app in the App Store and Google Play over the first two weeks of the tournament. It was also the No. 1 free app across all categories in the App Store during that same time period.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Basketball, bleacherreport, CBS Sports, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Smartphone, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: CBS, live sports on smartphones, Live sports via mobile, March Madness, Tablets, Turner Sports

March Madness a Huge Hit with Online and Mobile Users

March 28, 2013 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

To the surprise of probably no one the first round of the annual NCAA Division 1 Basketball tournament has see resounding television viewership numbers (best in 18 years), but what might pass unnoticed is how strong its mobile and online viewership is as well.

Strong actually may be understating it, in the first week viewership via PCs, smartphones and tablets accounted for 10 million hours of video stream consumed by fans accessing all of the different online digital properties showing the tournament.

The results coupled with the strong online viewership the recent London Summer Olympics enjoyed should put to rest the arguments that making live sports action available for mobile and online users will hurt television viewership that some sports leagues still adhere to.

There were 4.2 million unique visitors watching games, and what is telling about how fast this has become an alternative method to watch the event, that number represents a 161% increase from just a year ago.

Broadband users were the top consumers of video averaging 105 minutes of viewing time while the mobile segment, the smartphone and tablet users, consumed 61 minutes per user.

The mobile aspect of this is increasingly important. Mobile viewers represented for 43% of live video streams on Thursday, 48% on Friday, 59% on Saturday and 60% on Sunday. These numbers both show how important reaching mobile users and that by addressing them how an event can expand its viewership by reaching fans that might be at work and prohibited from using work PCs to view or people that are out and about but still want to catch a game. Hopefully others, such as the NFL, will take this to heart and make more games available online.

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, Contests, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Smartphone, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: Live sports via mobile, March Madness, NCAA, Smartphones, Tablets

NCAA Hoops: Where and What 2 Watch

March 20, 2013 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Here’s a roundup of where and what to watch for the first day of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.

HERE IS THE MARCH MADNESS LIVE ONLINE SITE

Just follow the directions for cable subscriber confirmation. If you aren’t a cable subscriber remember you get four hours’ grace time watching free online. The main page (scroll down) has a handy “channel finder” feature that will shorten your scramble to find TruTV.

First, a great breakdown of Thursday’s games from CBS senior blogger Matt Norlander. Viewing times and channels included. (We’ll update Matt’s links every day since we are guessing he’ll have similar posts for Friday and the weekend)

Here’s the main CBS College Hoops page. Lots of links.

How’s your bracket doing? Here is the ESPN Tournament Challenge page. I’ve got Gonzaga winning it all.

Filed Under: Basketball, CBS Sports, ESPN, NCAA Hoops, TBS, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: Bracket Bound, CBS, ESPN Bracket, Mobile Sports Report, NCAA Hoops, NCAA online, NCAA Tournament, Paul Kapustka, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports, watch March Madness online

NBA Playoffs: Available in Live TV, Mobile and Online

March Madness Maintains Torrid Mobile Viewing Pace

March Madness a Huge Hit with Online and Mobile Users

NCAA Hoops: Where and What 2 Watch

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

Search the MSR Site

e-reports