Ensequence has built an app for ESPN that will allow Verizon FiOS TV subscribers to build and follow tournament brackets during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Verizon has been working with Ensequence for years to create EBIF-based applications and widgets. Over the years, the company and its programming partners have created a series of apps, often for sporting events such as the Olympics, Major League Baseball and pro football.
ESPN again worked with Ensequence to create the “Tournament Challenge” TV app (a demo is on YouTube). All three companies collaborated on ESPN’s Fantasy Football app last fall.
Verizon FiOS TV customers can use the NCAA app to access and edit their tournament brackets from their televisions, tablets, computers and wireless phones. Users will be able to navigate between live tournament games and the viewer’s personalized, updated bracket on the television screen.
Angie Klein, vice president of product management for Verizon, said, “The ‘Tournament Challenge’ app is another way to interact with TV, providing a game-changing entertainment experience that only FiOS TV customers can enjoy this tournament season.”
ESPN has been running its “Tournament Challenge” game in one form or another for 15 years, so the app has built-in potential for high use. Last year, ESPN’s version of the bracket had nearly 6.5 million entries, up 22 percent compared with the previous year.