When I started creating vertical, special interest blogs, I didn't know what to expect. In some respects I still don't, but I wanted to thank those of you who have chosen to read these blogs.
Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Grievance-Less Festivus, or whatever. I hope to share more Inland Empire, NTN Buzztime, and music stuff with you in the future.
Since I'm addicted to the Fox Soccer Report, I'll ask myself the question - where would the Fox Soccer Report people go for their trivia fix?
They have three choices:
This came out yesterday:
PRESS RELEASE
NTN Buzztime, Inc. Appoints Jeffrey Lewis Executive Vice President of Digital Advertising Sales
Last update: 12:00 p.m. EST Dec. 10, 2008
CARLSBAD, Calif., Dec 10, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- NTN Buzztime, Inc. today announced the appointment of Jeffrey Lewis to the position of Executive Vice President of Digital Advertising Sales, effective December 10, 2008. In this position, he will spearhead the Company's initiative to grow sales of advertising displayed on Buzztime game-playing screens across the Company's North American network of approximately 3,750 Buzztime subscriber venues.
Mr. Lewis joins the Company from Ripple Networks, where he has served as Vice President, Sales. Between February 2007 and May 2008 he was Vice President, Sales with Instant Access Media's emerging iam-TV out-of-home entertainment network from the time of its launch. Beyond hands-on sales responsibilities, both of these positions included formulating sales and pricing strategies and revenue models. In the 2005 to 2006 time frame, he served as Account Manager for MTV Networks' Spike TV, with responsibility for both cable and online sales, achieving 36% growth in billings in a flat marketplace.
As an Account Executive with Turner Broadcasting Systems between May 2000 and March 2005, Mr. Lewis created specialized, integrated marketing packages and promotional platforms that yielded triple-digit revenue growth from prominent national advertisers. Earlier in his career, between 1990 and 2000, he was Sales Planner, then Account Executive, with Paramount Domestic Television's Advertiser Services unit. Mr. Lewis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Binghamton University in New York.
"We're excited about our corporate initiative to grow ad sales under the leadership of Jeffrey Lewis," commented NTN Buzztime's Chairman, Jeff Berg. "Our North American network of over 3,700 Buzztime subscriber sites reaches millions of consumers per month, and we believe Jeffrey Lewis has the successful executive-level track record, market savvy and drive to leverage our out-of-home advertising assets."
"I am tremendously excited to join the NTN Buzztime team," Mr. Lewis said. "Our digital platform's potential is enormous, providing 360-degree marketing solutions to a wide range of advertisers seeking to connect with the elusive adult and male demographic in the 21 to 49 age category. As digital out-of-home advertising increasingly becomes an integral part of regional and national media plans, Buzztime has a unique opportunity to solidify its position as a leader in delivering scale, rich metrics, consumer engagement, interactivity and market-leading value."
About NTN Buzztime, Inc.
NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for more than 20 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,750 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.
Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.
Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.
Forward-looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations including but not limited to estimates of financial performance and cash flows, growth in advertising sales, trends in subscriber preference and engagement and results of marketing strategies. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include the risk of changing economic conditions, failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.
SOURCE NTN Buzztime, Inc.
http://www.buzztime.com
So Lewis spent a large number of weeks at Ripple Networks before coming to NTN Buzztime. Who is Ripple Networks?
Our business stands firmly on our ability to deliver solutions that focus on the productivity improvements and collaborative enhancements critical to today's small and mid-sized businesses. Our experienced sales, engineering and project professionals will work to execute projects consistently and on budget in most major markets around the globe.
Well, that certainly explained things...
OK, so who goes off on a ski vacation and worries about where to play trivia? Apparently some people do:
Sometimes all you want after a day on the slopes is a beer, casual food and a lively, informal atmosphere....
Imagine going to a tropical island and finding a bar with skis and snowshoes on the walls. Now flip the image, and you have Jake's Dive Bar in Breckenridge, displaying dive gear. It serves 24 beers (three on draft), and most popular pub specialties are available until closing. Happy hour stretches from 3 to 7 nightly. Play NTN Buzztime Trivia all day every day. Warble along with karaoke every Friday at 9:30 p.m. If you give the night's best performance, you get a prize.
Breckenridge Towne Square, 100 N. Main St.; 970-547-0110.
A thread developed regarding the existence, or lack thereof, of bars in the Pittsburgh area that had board games. But the economics may not work:
The only problem with having gaming nights at coffee shops or bars is that people tend buy one thing and stay there for hours and buy nothing else. This was a problem at the Oakland Beehive years ago with people playing Magic: The Gathering. They would buy a $1.00 coffee and sit and play for hours and not buy anything else. This is bad for business. This may be different in bars, I dunno, but that's the only drawback I see about any establishment holding one of these nights. The NTN/Buzztime electronic trivia games they have at places like Buffalo Wild Wings and Damon's force you to take breaks between rounds to get a drink or order/eat your food. They also have sponsors/commercials during that time to avert the cost of playing.
I never thought of the pauses between rounds as an incentive to buy stuff. I always looked at them as an incentive to eat stuff, or to use the facilities.
