The volume of data created within a professional sports team’s fan base is enormous, said Matt Hertig, chief executive officer of Alight Analytics.
“Being able to see all of that data together across all of the popular social channels — from Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat — in one place and really understand the correlation of behaviors that fans are talking about, on the topics that they’re talking about, not only within a particular channel but, really, across all channels is extremely important to them,” he said.
Kansas City-based Alight Analytics, a marketing analytics firm Hertig co-founded with Michelle Jacobs, has partnered with the NBA to help the league handle the billions of messages, posts, tweets and snaps it accrues on its social media platforms, the company recently announced. Alight gathers and analyzes social media data through its newest product: ChannelMix, a marketing analytics solution designed specifically for major sports brands.
Matt Hertig, Alight Analytics
One primary focus is helping teams, leagues and other sporting organizations to better monetize fan engagement, according to a press release.
The Memphis Grizzlies professional basketball team was Alight’s first client for the sports marketing analytics solution, the company reported.
Alight launched the NBA’s initial platform on ChannelMix in December and brought the league a complete solution in 60 days, as promised, Hertig said.
“It’s really a testament to our team and, really, our approach on our platform that we have in ChannelMix to show a brand like the NBA that, yes, in fact, a company right here in Kansas City can really change the way you go to market and not only understanding the value of all of these channels, but [also] significantly impacting the daily operations of how the NBA now functions,” he said.
The firm’s social aggregating platform helps sports brands demonstrate to advertisers the monetary value of those social channels, Hertig said.
How does it work?
ChannelMix automatically pulls a brand’s social media performance data and provides nearly real-time insights and analysis, reducing manual processes by more than 90 percent, said Jacobs, who also serves as president of Alight.
Michelle Jacobs, Alight Analytics
“[Sports teams and marketers] end up in a situation where they’re spending so much time just trying to get performance data out of these big systems, like from Twitter and Facebook and Youtube, but they end up not having any time to really analyze it or understand what it means,” Jacobs said. “What we’re doing for them is releasing them of that burden of having to manually gather all of this data.”
Since making its ChannelMix solution available, Alight experienced “phenomenal” growth the past few years, Hertig said, noting ChannelMix was originally built for Alight’s own internal use. The firm’s revenue grows at about a 25 percent clip each year, he added.
Alight Analytics was recently named a finalist on the annual Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest growing companies nationwide. Alight was one of several Kansas City area finalists for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Award in the Central Midwest.
