NBC, Fox, Bloomberg, Cisco use Center City firm to add sports apps

TV networks and pro sports stadium managers are preparing for a mobile-apps arms race that will try to make both live and remotely-viewed games more attractive to consumers. Philadelphia-based OneTwoSee is among the vendors trying to serve both groups, as I noted in this column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Highlights:

"Our viewers are engaging us on two or more screens," Jack Jackson, vice president for digital media product development at NBC Sports Group, told me. "We wanted to go beyond the common box score and provide meaningful insights" beyond what networks can cram on the main screen.

In 2012, NBC hired OneTwoSee, a Center City mobile app platform developer, to "infuse social elements around our broadcasts" for Phillies games on Comcast SportsNet, Jackson said. NBC and OneTwoSee have since set up programs for Sixers games, too, and for pro teams in other Comcast cities from Boston to California.

"The second screen is absolutely an important platform to reach the audience," Bo Moon, co-founder of Bloomberg Sports, an arm of Bloomberg L.P., told me. "We have a lot of sports data and we want to get that in front of consumers. Broadcasters might be able to fit one item out of 30 on the air. With additional screens they can see more on a website or an iPad or a smartphone through our partner," which, for Bloomberg, is also OneTwoSee.

"If our user is watching a baseball game, we tell them the odds of that person getting on base, and how it changes after a strike is thrown. If he hits a ball, we tell them where it is likely to drop," Moon said.

Do securities traders - Bloomberg's target audience - bet on such data? "That would be illegal here," Moon said, laughing. "But in legal markets, they absolutely are betting. Our terminal users are rabid fans."

After its vital early boost from Comcast NBC, OneTwoSee added its Gametime software platform at FoxSports, the major Canadian TV providers, and others, for a total of 15 networks, said Chris Reynolds, who founded the company with fellow Navteq veteran Jason Angelides.

"The core of our business is using our underlying software platform as a base for all these fan-engagement opportunities," said Rob Pace, a Motorola and Disney veteran who is now OneTwoSee's chief business sofficer. "We can deploy our technology in many environments."