Two second screen apps to complement March Madness viewing

By Adam Flomenbaum 

MarchMadness2011Logo2March Madness is officially upon us.

If you missed the opportunity to fill out the Quicken Loans and Warren Buffet-insured ‘Billion $ Bracket Challenge,’ you will still find it difficult to avoid bracket talk this week.

As we wrote about on Tuesday, there is little need to go outside of the NCAA/CBS Sports/Turner triumvirate to get your tournament fix. Most games will be presented on linear TV across the spectrum of CBS and Turner networks, but every game will also be available to stream via the increasingly impressive March Madness Live.

Advertisement

Still, while access to games will be easier than ever, there are two complementary second screen experiences worth considering:

Sportsmanias.com – a real-time team news aggregator – allows fans to view a head-to-head Twitter feed of the beat writers from the two opposing tournament teams. This feature is intended to give fans a social play-by-play experience. For those interested in only one team, fans can get personalized commentary via the Sportsmanias Team New app.

“As Sportsmanias continues to grow its avid fan base across the nation, we continue to innovate our platform to feed them more of the content they want, faster, and all in one place,” said Aymara Del Aguila, CEO and Co-Founder of Sportsmanias. “The dual Twitter stream is one of the most significant enhancements of our product to date. As the game takes place on the court or field or diamond, sports fans now have a one-stop destination where they can follow what the inside sources for their favorite team are reporting, and also from those of the opposition. Sportsmanias delivers these updates directly to you, so you don’t have to go out and find them.”

Screen Shot 2014-03-19 at 8.09.03 PM

Another app that will enhance tournament viewing is SlingPlayer 3.0, which has been available since November. A ‘Sports’ tab in the Gallery allows fans to see all the games that are on and on what channels they’re airing. Users will also see a Thuuz Score listed for games. Thuuz is Sling Media’s sports data provider, and using a combination of algorithms and social cues, rates the buzz of all live and upcoming games on a 1-100 scale.

Game information is integrating into the streaming experience including scores and game-leader statistics.

02-11-14-4thuuz-score-key 02-11-14-2gallery-sports

Advertisement