Thought Equity Motion brings contextual media to life
When we first talked to thought equity back in 2009 they introduced the concept of contextual media. This concept describes how media consumers will be able to find many layers of content beneath, or around their initial entry point. The company is now bringing the c0ncept to life with the creation of a video powered ‘Vault’ of content for NCAA March Madness. A higly anticipated Basketball event in the US.
Contextual media works a bit like the rich linking functionality on Fast Media Magazine. We use a plugin by Apture to show related content from all over the web when you select certain links. This allows you to dig into your favourite subject and learn more about companies, simply by associated links. The NCAA Vault, is powered by Thought Equity Motion’s technology platform.
Games from the NCAA’s championship video archives have been indexed with rich metadata tagging around players, teams and highlights, creating a flexible “database” of moments to enable a rich fan experience and new syndication models through an open application programming interface (API).
Basketball fans can search for individual plays and highlights from the games and players, not just from current games but going back a decade. Through the vault selected (curated) game highlights can be viewed and specific moments can be shared with friends. Full length games can also be viewed in the vault. This is what Kevin Schaff, CEO and founder of Thought Equity Moton said:
“Through our proprietary technology, we’ve made the NCAA’s March Madness content accessible to fans in a way that’s never been done by a sports rights holder,” “This Vault experience extends the life of the tournament and enhances the excitement of March Madness at NCAA.com, increasing visitor engagement and dwell time, while also creating new advertising and sponsorship opportunities.”
Another innovation is that the vault has an open API. This means developers can creat apps around it that allow access to the content in different ways. This will also allow publishers to create their own stories with a unique selection of content. Kevin Schaff calls this: ‘production through metadata.’ The company has given a number of examples of how metadata are used to make the database accesible:
- 2008 – National Championship – University of Kansas ties the game with Memphis with three seconds left in regulation after a three-pointer, forcing over time and a Kansas National Championship
- 2006 – George Mason defeats Connecticut to reach the Final Four as an 11 seed
In addition, the NCAA and Thought Equity Motion added social media features to the NCAA Vault. Fans can comment on specific moments within NCAA Vault games and share them through links or via Twitter and Facebook. Comments will show up on their Twitter and Facebook pages with links back to the exact moments in the Vault games they selected, creating conversations among fans.