Sports Media Challenge's Buzz Manager Provides Fan-Generated Media Results in Real Time on Nick Saban's Move to Alabama

Charlotte, NC (PRWeb) January 7, 2007 -- Buzz Manager™, the industry standard in mining, monitoring and analyzing online content for sports brands, uncovered intense fan reaction during the first two days following the announcement of Nick Saban being named Head Coach of the University of Alabama football. Buzz Manager marketed by Sports Media Challenge tracked and measured fan-generated media (FGM) or unaided online word-of-mouth conversations regarding Saban's leaving the Dolphins for what is by far the highest paid position in college coaching.

This topic resonated with fans who expressed their opinions in thousands of blogs in a 24-hour period. An amazing amount of discussion in SEC blogs and team forums was found. Buzz Manager collected threads from message boards across the country and Sports Media Challenge's Analysts identified the SEC boards to be the most active and the most passionate. Here is a sampling of the results.

1. Auburn boards - AuburnSports.com Message Board (372 posts, 14,890 views, 1:40 post to view ratio)
2. Tennessee board - VolNation.com (390 posts, 10,147 views, 1:26 post to view ratio)
3. Alabama - CrimsonTusks.com (303 posts, 9899 views, 1:32 posts to view)

*Strong fan reaction typically is indicated by at least 20 views for every fan post indicating extremely strong fan engagement on the Saban coaching issue.

Buzz Manager's proprietary search engine and expert analysts monitored the chatter on fan-generated media in real time and compared it to content from Traditional Media sources to determine where discussion is occurring, the volume of chatter, the passion of fans, and their influence.

Buzz Manager is a relatively new service which is the perfect tool for clients to determine what fans are feeling and are saying about their team brand, individual players, sponsor marketing efforts, etc. Through fan-generated media conversations, which consist of blogs, social networking sites, message boards and chat rooms, we can measure the volume, intensity and direction of influential fans and consumers, sponsor promotions, or brand reputations.

In looking at the top 5 NCAA Football blogs defined by the Sports Blog Index™, Sports Media challenge found extreme negative sentiment in 3 of 5 blogs with numerous comments echoing that sentiment. The Sports Blog Index is the standard measurement created by Sports Media Challenge to identify the most influential blogs in each sports category and aims to be a helpful tool to determine where the most passionate fans go on the Internet and the hottest issues they're talking about.

Founded by Kathleen Hessert, president of Charlotte, NC based Sports Media Challenge, Buzz Manager has become the new leader in monitoring and analyzing online content in 'real time' for the sports marketplace.

"The combination of emotion, opinion, and expression has tremendous power to affect the brand reputation of any sports organization," said Hessert. "Word-of-mouth online opinions, and the responses can build excitement around sports brands, but can also cripple them. Athletic Departments, pro teams, leagues, and corporate sponsors need to understand what fans, critics and competitors are saying online and to manage that discussion effectively."

About Sports Media Challenge
Since 1988, Sports Media Challenge has helped more than 100 leading university Athletic Departments, professional leagues, teams and world-class sports personalities protect and enhance their brands through strategic communications, consulting and training. Some of the more prominent clients to use PR and marketing tools both proactively and reactively include The Universities of Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas, NCAA Football, ESPN, THE PGA TOUR, The NFL, MLB and NBA teams as well as NFL MVP Peyton Manning, and NBA great Shaquille O'Neal.

Media Contact:
Harold Kaufman
Senior Analyst and Consultant
Sports Media Challenge
704-451-8938

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