Slugging it out with US giants

By ELLEN READ

World-leading technology has helped Auckland company txtstation to secure a deal with America's largest regional television network to run a live text message promotion during US baseball coverage this weekend.

The company will work with California's KCAL-TV during coverage of three Anaheim Angels v Seattle Mariners games to up to 9 million homes.

"It's an incredibly high-profile event," txtstation managing director Matt Coleman said of the deal, which will net the company tens of thousands of dollars.

"We're working towards securing a 12-month to 36-month contract which would be worth hundreds of thousands."

The company's interactive television service means viewers can engage with the televised coverage via their mobile phone. Fans can vote for the traditional most valuable player or field new questions such as the pitcher they would least like to face.

The txtstation graphics package - patent pending - creates broadcast quality overlays of the viewer votes on to television programming or screens at live events. It was launched at the V8 series at Pukekohe last year.

Viewers and the audience text their votes or comments in and see the results appear live on screen.

"The Americans are relatively new to this technology" said Coleman, whose company has been offering its mobile marketing services to the cricket, rugby and motor sport industries for the past two years.

"They're really excited about seeing viewers' responses to a game broadcast live on TV. Because it's real time, you can see how a player's performance causes a spike in viewer opinion."

There's another bonus for viewers: "Every vote cast gives the viewer an opportunity to win something," Coleman said.

The company won the contract after its Seattle agent made contact with the broadcaster. The promotion will be sponsored by American telco giant Verizon - the first time a broadcaster has been able to get a telco in as a sponsor, according to Coleman.

A txtstation team of three will create and manage the entire process in California, from structuring the promotion to designing the broadcast graphics and providing the infrastructure for voting on different mobile carriers.

They will operate the system from an outside broadcast van at the stadium, feeding the text message results live into broadcast quality graphics for KCAL-TV's game coverage.

Coleman said adding a visual display on-screen of live viewer responses encouraged greater viewer loyalty and interest, and had been shown to drive response rates higher.

"The interactive service is not only a unique extension to an event as far as fans are concerned, but also a valuable new marketing channel and a potential source of new revenue stream for telcos, broadcasters and event organisers," he said.

It also gives sponsors the opportunity to interact one-to-one with their consumers. The company can analyse the data received for a sponsor and break it down into marketing information.

Six staff work for txtstation in New Zealand but the company has partner relationships with more than 500 mobile phone carriers in 100 countries - and the potential to reach 90 per cent of all mobile users worldwide.

The money earned from calls is shared between txtstation, the mobile phone company and the sports broadcaster.

Response rates are not known but Coleman estimates in New Zealand that about 10 per cent of a television audience would take part in a phone-in poll. He said texting a vote to a poll was not much more expensive than entering a postal competition where entrants would have to pay for the paper, envelop and postage.

KCAL also broadcasts the LA Lakers games - and that is a goal for txtstation.

"What we are doing in the States with this season's baseball can apply to any mass interest event where audiences are wanting to become more involved," Coleman said.

The potential for the txtstation technology to be used at other major sporting, entertainment and public events was huge.

The company was talking about delivering similar live services to stadium screens, mobiles and the internet, to ensure the widest possible audience receives the voting and interactive game information in real time.

The UCLA has been commissioned to do study the weekend coverage and advise txtstation about possible changes or improvements.

Despite aiming for the big time, Coleman is committed to the company's Auckland base. However sales and marketing staff were needed overseas to build contacts.

Txtstation