Free SMS Sports Alerts for New York Yankees Fans

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Written on Monday, March 30, 2009

Pretty interesting to see a service providing free SMS alerts (well, almost, they're ad-supported) for supporters of the New York Yankees. This is usually considered premium material and consumers are invited to participate in the form of a paid membership to receive such sports alerts, so I am intrigued to find out how well it works and how profitable it will eventually turn out to be.

It will all depend, of course, on whether enough advertisers will participate, but, from what I know, the Yankees are quite popular -- maybe 'quite' being an understatement --  so it does stand a chance. Besides, they wouldn't be running it if they thought it wouldn't succeed, would they?

Here's more from the article:
The Yes Network, the official TV channel of MLB’s New York Yankees, is running free-to-consumer, ad-supported SMS alerts.

The text-message alerts are powered by 4Info. The initiative lets consumers get news and score alerts for their favorite teams on their mobile phone and gives advertisers the opportunity to reach Yankee fans.
New York Yankees’ YES Network runs ad-supported SM
YES Network SMS alerts are powered by 4Info

First, consumers choose what kinds of SMS alerts they’d like to receive on the Yes Network Web site, such as news and score updates in categories including “Yankees News,” “Nets News” and “Local Sports News.”

In addition to Yankees content, the Yes Network runs SMS alerts for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. 4Info offers SMS alerts for the four major sports: MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL.

After consumers enter their mobile phone number, 4Info then sends a text message with a five-digit code, which the consumer must enter into the portal on the Yes Network Web site.

Consumers then receive the following text message confirming their opt-in:

“Welcome to 4Info alerts! Questions? Contact support@4info.net or text HELP. Text STOP to stop anytime. Std/other charges may apply.”

The Yes Network has obviously thought this one through though..
The Yankees SMS alerts are promoted on-air during Yes Network broadcasts, as well as on the Web site.

Brands advertising within the Yes text messages range from Papa John’s and Avis to TV networks such as HBO, Starz and Spike. The SMS alerts contain branding messages or click to various actions.

“We’ve had some really good uptake so far and we’ve sold a good amount of ad inventory,” Mr. Spirito said. “Advertisers get directly in front of consumers, the most ardent fans who can’t be away from the content we have and want  most up-to-date information possible.

and it's even more interesting to see that they're running interactive marketing SMS campaigns, where consumers can reply back texting a different keyword to receive an offer. Take a look at the article for some examples.


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1 Comment

  1. john | February 25, 2011 7:55 PM

    its nice post.i liked this post.so informative post.

     

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