Norwegian Football Communities Kick Off Football Season
Oslo, Norway, April 14, 2009: Escenic’s Community Engine to kickstart Norwegian football season
Two of Norway's newest and biggest Media conglomerates; Media Norge and Polaris Media have launched 12 football supporter communities simultaneously on Escenic’s Community Engine. The 12 football communities are being used by 12 of the leading national, regional and local newspapers in Norway now owned by Media Norge and Polaris Media; Adresseavisen, Aftenposten, Bergens Tidende, Brønnøysunds Avis, Fædrelandsvennen, Folkebladet, Framtid i Nord, Harstad Tidende, Romsdals Budstikke, Stavanger Aftenblad, Sunnmørsposten, Vesterålen online. The business idea behind this project is to have a “spill-over” effect from the sports editorial of each newspaper to their online community. Ensuring topics raised in the regular sports section of each newspaper are later discussed in the forums and blogs of the community.
Each football community is powered by Escenic technology and includes popular online community features such as: Groups, forums, blogs, guestbooks and quizzes. Upon registering, members (supporters) can create their own member profile with photo, favourite football team etc. They also have the opportunity to search, add and invite other members to become their friends. Members can also search and join groups in the community. Each member has a guestbook and inbox as part of their profile, allowing them to easily communicate with friends and other members.
Real interaction between members in the community is the purpose of each of these football supporter communities. This is achieved through members not only creating their own forums and blogs, but also commenting on other members' forums and blogs. Members not only have the opportunity to participate in quizzes on the website but also to create and publish their own quizzes on the community, allowing members to truly interact with one other.
"We are delighted to have two of Norway's Media giants choose our product, Escenic Community Engine, to launch Norway's biggest football supporter community. We are also certain that in today's challenging times, Escenic Community Engine, may also generate interest for some of our existing and new customers, as a new way for them to generate additional revenue and increase customer retention,” said Knut I. Skeid, Managing Director of Escenic.
About Media Norge:
The company Media Norge will be created through a merger of the media houses Aftenposten, Bergens Tidende, Fædrelandsvennen and Stavanger Aftenblad. The merger would also grant Media Norge ownership to Finn.no. The four media houses are market leaders in their respective geographical markets. Finn.no is a national market leader for online classified advertisements. Media Norge will be one of the largest media companies in Norway, with strong positions in regional media and classifieds. Regional news and content will continue to be the core of each media house. Media Norge will have approximately 2,500 employees.
About Polaris Media:
Polaris Media will have 800 employees and an annual revenue of around 1.3 billion, and becomes one of Norway's largest media groups. The planned company will have more than 90 percent in one regional newspaper, 11 local newspapers and several local radio and TV stations.
About Escenic: www.escenic.com
Escenic is strategic content management software for digital media publishing. Escenic technologies drive over 600 of the most dynamic and exciting news media websites in the world. Escenic has been closely tied to the media industry since 1997. Today we are proud to be considered industry leaders in our sector.
With Escenic, competitive commercial enterprises gain access to the same robust technologies that professional publishers have preferred for years. In July 2008, Escenic was acquired by Vizrt.
About Vizrt: www.vizrt.com
Vizrt creates leading-edge content production tools for the digital media industry - from award-winning 3D graphics & maps through integrated video workflow solutions to online publishing tools.
Vizrt’s product suite is used by the world’s leading broadcasters and publishing houses, including: CNN, CBS, Fox, BBC, Sky, ITN, ZDF, Star TV, Network 18, TV Today, CCTV, NHK, the Globe and Mail, The Telegraph, and Welt Online. Furthermore, many world-class production houses and corporate institutions, including both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, utilize Vizrt solutions for the real time visualisation of information.
Vizrt is a public company traded on the Frankfurt Prime Standard and on the Oslo Main List: VIZ, ISIN: IL0010838154.
For more information:
Knut I. Skeid, CEO, Escenic, +47 9222 0352, knut.skeid@escenic.com
Tom Skolbekken, VP Sales & Mktg, +47 9512 5687, tom.skolbekken@escenic.com
