Monterosa Efforts Around Interactive Overlays Find Success with More Than 100 Million Users

Monterosa Interaction Cloud brings interactive layers to existing video players

The past year has seen an increase in a new type of interactivity for live sports content: overlays that offer up everything from stats to quizzes to sweepstakes and more. And one of the companies heavily invested in the movement is Monterosa whose Interaction Cloud has been used by organizations like the PGA, Formula E, Liverpool Football Club, Nickelodeon, and more. In 2021, Monterosa’s Interaction Cloud generated two billion interactions, serving more than 100 million users globally.

Tom McDonnell, Monterosa, CEO

Tom McDonnell, Monterosa CEO, says there are a bunch of challenges related to integration and delivery of overlays in a way that makes it acceptable to users.

“We’ve deployed both as a second screen experience to the main screen and alongside video to the side for the Web and or below the video in mobile which seems to work pretty well,” he says.

Overlays have grown in popularity as they allow for interactivity to be added to the consumer experience without the need to take the fan away from the content they are watching. Monterosa’s offering is highlighted by the ability to quickly launch overlays across multiple experiences and devices and then have all of that data gathered from fans flow into one database. And unlike outsourced or in-house builds, the platform offers fast time to launch and a suite of gamification, participation, interactive video and sports data visualization experiences, all under a simple subscription and support model.

Nickelodeon has used Monterosa for overlays of NFL games, allowing them to create an experience once and roll it out in multiple markets.

“The problem is digital teams are busy, it takes too long and costs too much to launch new services, and it’s also hard to maintain,” says McDonnell. “But with our platform you log in and have a menu and you can click and add voting or a sweepstakes with templates that can be configured by the team, or we can configure them for the client. We provide a lot of services around it to help with configuration so you can launch a prediction game in a week [from concept to deployment].”

Interactive fan engagement continues to be a big area of interest for rights holders and investors alike and interactive service provider Monterosa’s raising of $4.5 million shows how real-time engagement platforms are getting the financial support to continue to grow.

The Monterosa Interaction Cloud is designed to bring interactive layers to existing video players, whether they are on a Web site, an app, or other delivery mechanism. Voting, gamification, competitions and even gambling can become interactive overlays that are simple to use and don’t require the user to leave the main experience. The goal, says McDonnell, is to help bring a new level of fan engagement and interactivity without the need to have an organization’s team sit down and start coding.

The advantage of having all the interactive components from one platform is that a data pipeline can connect the viewer data directly into marketing and sales databases.

Peter Cassidy, Monterosa, commercial director

Explains Peter Cassidy, Monterosa, commercial director: “Most of our customers have some sort of CRM or data collection platform so they are gathering data from multiple sources. We become another source and we pipe that data into their CRM system. And the good thing is you’re naturally collecting information about the likes and the dislikes and the preferences and so on about those users that you wouldn’t get from just video.”

The key is offering interactive services that more holistic and experienced by all fans and users, regardless of device.

“We think the best way to do that is to limit the amount of complexity around things like security questionnaires or compliance issues which is vastly complex,” says McDonnell. “We deploy once like at the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards where we had a single Web application for 24 different versions [around the globe].”

Monterosa’s efforts around is getting the attention of investors, most recently resulting in an infusion of capital ($4.5 million) that coincides with Monterosa’s appointment of Claygate Advisors as its partner on expansion into the United States.

“Monterosa’s Interaction Cloud platform has demonstrated a unique value proposition to the Company’s rights holder and media customers, allowing them to more successfully navigate changing consumer habits and optimize their revenue potential,” says Paul Tselentis, CEO at 24Haymarket.

 Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors comments: “Monterosa was early in identifying the growing demand for interactive fan engagement and the traction it has achieved in terms of interactions, users and big-name customers demonstrates the strength of the business. We can’t wait to see what it achieves next as it accelerates global expansion.”

Monterosa is also expanding its Product and Commercial teams with several recent appointments in key leadership roles: Dan Chronnell, Product Director; Gareth Rees, Head of Business Development and Partnerships; Andy Hoskings, Head of Customer Success; and Holly Tyler, Marketing Director.

“As organizations adopt direct-to-consumer business models, their need to continuously engage, retain and convert audiences increases. Building those direct customer connections means inspiring them to spend time with you, offering up value in exchange for first party data and insight.” says McDonnel. “We’re determined to help more organizations accelerate innovation by simplifying and speeding up the way they deploy engagement Experiences”.