MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - July 31, 2009) -

News Facts:

• With the launch of FanSection Fantasy Football 2009, Watercooler will extend the fantasy sports experience beyond core players by proactively involving a user's social graph on Facebook Platform.
• As the No. 1 sports application(1) on Facebook Platform, FanSection's direct dialogue with fans has uniquely positioned it to meet the needs of sports aficionados, with the opportunity to reach and engage with Facebook's more than 250 million active users worldwide.
• 30 million users play social games monthly on Facebook Platform -- which is a significant percentage among the entire site's population. Because there are few opportunities to play social games specifically serving the sports community, FanSection's millions of members have expressed a desire for a deeper sports-focused social gaming experience.
• FanSection Fantasy Football 2009 will be a league-based head-to-head commissioner game. The game is sponsored by Coors Light, the official beer of the NFL. FanSection and MillerCoors have worked together to ensure that only consumers 21+ will be exposed to the Coors Light sponsorship. MillerCoors' participation in the game was spearheaded by digital advertising agency Razorfish, a leader in leveraging social media to engage people and build brand loyalty through marketing initiatives. Other participating partners and advertisers will include STATS, Inc. and TrialPay.
• Serving as a one-stop destination for fantasy football fans, FanSection Fantasy Football 2009 will provide a breadth of features:
• Social interaction -- Unlike other fantasy sports offerings across the Web, FanSection will open up game play to a user's entire social graph, involving hard-core and casual users and inviting spectators to get involved in the fantasy experience. Fans and their friends will be able to partake in numerous social features that include:
• Celebrating wins by posting game scores to profile
• Taunting friends/opponents by posting game scores to their profile or talking smack to other teams
• Taking trivia and inviting friends to participate in polls and discussions
• Fantasy news content from CBSSports.com -- FanSection users will have access to fantasy sports industry leader CBSSports.com's draft kit as well as CBSSports.com NFL and fantasy football news and video content focused on relevant team and player information and updates.
• Tickets, merchandise and apparel -- FanSection's partnership with RazorGator will enable fans to purchase tickets to select games directly through Facebook. Fans will also be able to purchase merchandise and apparel within the app from FanSection partner TeamFanShop.
• Premium features -- FanSection will offer basic commissioner game-play with customizable league settings and scoring for free. Premium features including Live Scoring with up-to-the-minute game stats and custom reports and content are available for an additional fee.
• Watercooler provides the most extensive network of online fan communities and social games around sports and TV entertainment with its FanSection™ and TVLoop™ online communities. Over 40 million fans have connected on Watercooler properties, which include the TVLoop.com website and applications on top social networking sites.

LINKS:

Please use this link to access Watercooler
FanSection blog
FanSection Twitter feed
FanSection Launch Screenshots

Quotes, attributable to Watercooler executives:

• "While you don't need a lot of sports knowledge to join our communities, many of our fans wanted something more. We want to cater to the feedback we received from certain groups in our communities requesting this type of gaming experience," said Kevin Chou, CEO of Watercooler. "We've offered basic sports prediction games in the past that have been well received, and fantasy sports are the next logical step for us as a way to serve that audience in a deeper way."
• "We've spent the past few years building up a strong user base that speaks to what fans want to see as part of their social experience with sports," said Bryan Bennett, VP of marketing and GM of fantasy sports for Watercooler. "Now that we've established that relationship with fans we feel we're well-equipped with the feedback and backend tools to provide them with the best fantasy football game play possible."

Please contact Marie Williams at watercoolerpr@shiftcomm.com or 415-591-8416 to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

Technorati Tags:
Watercooler, FanSection, Facebook, social media, web 2.0, social gaming, football, NFL, fantasy sports, MillerCoors, Coors, Razorfish

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(1) Calculated based on monthly active users for the sports category as reported by AppData.