I love this image – Cisco’s take on a bracket, like the ones so many of us filled out recently. It taps into the fact that the appetite of sports fans is almost insatiable with the buffet of content available to them, and that a network is their ticket to eat. Consider the fact that March Madness Live, the NCAA’s live stream of the men’s basketball tournament, saw record 51 million live streams through the first weekend, more than entire 2013 tournament. In addition, the social component of sports continues to explode. Over the first weekend, the five most tweeted about games generated more than 1.5 million tweets. And brand engagement continues to grow on social with sports fans as well, with seven out of ten fans being willing to take action with a brand beyond just a “like.”
This isn’t a shock to Cisco. We have seen the rapidly escalating desire of teams, venues and leagues to deliver reliable connectivity, live video, and afford their fans the ability to share their experiences on social media. It’s why we have installed our solutions in more than 200 venues in 30 plus countries globally. Today, this trend continues as the Danish national stadium PARKEN, in Copenhagen, announced it will be installing Cisco Connected Sports solutions – Connected Stadium Wi-Fi, StadiumVision and StadiumVision Mobile, an unparalleled suite of technology and business drivers for the stadium. This comes on the heels of the announcement just a couple months ago that another Nordic entity in Olso, the Norwegian Professional Football League, will be using Cisco to deliver Wi-Fi and mobile video in ALL of their venues in the near future.
When you are watching basketball this weekend or next, remember the image above and note that Cisco’s goal is to connect the unconnected fans everywhere – like only we can. It is something we are doing at the Honda Center, where games are being played this weekend, at AT&T Stadium, where the Final Four and NCAA Championship game will be held, and around the world at venues that host some of the biggest clubs and most prestigious events. From Copenhagen to Cowboys Stadium, from Oslo to Orange County, California….Cisco is putting millions of fans at the center of the action.
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