(Courtesy of Pumpjack)
Mobile fan engagement platform Tixsee has been acquired by Pumpjack Dataworks, a startup focused on turning mobile fan data into revenue for sports teams and leagues. Tixsee’s software was previously utilized by the Dallas Mavericks, who will now partner with Pumpjack as part of the acquisition.
Tixsee’s software allowed the Mavericks to debut a 360-degree panoramic virtual tour powered by Google Street View. The feature can be used by fans when viewing available seats before buying tickets to games through Ticketmaster, whose platform was integrated into the Mavericks app. Pumpjack acquired Tixsee with goals to further develop the Mavericks app and to help the team extract value from fan-related data.
“Teams and leagues in sports have done very well in bringing analytics into their business as far as the performance side of sabermetrics, but bringing them to the business side has lagged behind,” said Pumpjack CEO Nick Goggans. “We see that mobile is the way. Revenue will go into the phone first whether you’re buying concessions, merchandise, or watching video.”
For example, perhaps some Mavericks fans only attend games at American Airlines Center in Dallas when the Golden State Warriors come to town. Pumpjack technology will ensure the Mavericks are aware of which fans typically only buy those single game tickets. In turn, those fans will be among the first people to be notified by the Mavericks when ticket specials pertaining to those specific games are offered.
Goggans also said that Pumpjack is expected to soon launch a pilot partnership with “a major European soccer club.” While the Mavericks and that European team are both high-profile organizations, Goggans said that Pumpjack’s target over the next year is to work with teams, venues, and leagues that have an average attendance per-game under 10,000 fans.
One new feature Pumpjack is currently working on bringing to the Mavericks app is integration with the team’s loyalty reward system for fans. That system is based around a fans’ social media interaction with the team’s official accounts, so Pumpjack allowed fans to access its social media—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn—from inside the Mavs app.
“[Pumpjack] built us a single sign-on into the app so we could integrate third party apps into our app at an application program interface or software development kit level and a fan can actually link accounts within our app,” said David Herr, Mavericks Chief Technology Officer. “So with our loyalty program, fans can earn points for interacting with the team on social media to buy tickets and other fan experiences.”
