Live Nation Entertainment has acquired BigChampagne Media Measurement, a pioneer in collecting, analyzing and distributing media metrics. Terms of the deal, which was announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.
BigChampagne will become part of Live Nation’s Live Analytics group, where it will continue to innovate not only in crunching numbers, but also in knowing which numbers to crunch and how to interpret the results in ways meaningful for entertainment businesses, brands and lifestyle marketers. Additionally, BigChampagne’s own products and services will be expanded to incorporate its new access to live event data, ticketing and merchandising, direct-to-fan and other exclusive data sets.
Live Nation Entertainment will retain the entire staff and operations of BigChampagne, including its flagship products Ultimate Chart, Ultimate Awards and Ultimate Chart Pro. The firm’s founder Eric Garland is now general manager of LiveNation.com, and its co-founder Joe Fleischer has been named senior vice president of Content & Product Strategy for LiveNation.com. Live Nation will continue to invest in the development of BigChampagne’s core analytics engine and products
“This acquisition strengthens our commitment to be the leader in Artist to Fan data,” Michael Rapino, chief executive officer of Live Nation Entertainment, said in a statement. “BigChampagne’s expertise will accelerate our mission to drive deeper fan engagement throughout Live Nation driven by world class data technology.”
BigChampagne was one of the first metrics specialists to factor non-traditional – and non-sanctioned – distribution into its data sources, starting with music, realizing early on that social network and even illicit activity had meaning and relevance to the entertainment industry.
Live Nation will use its newly acquired expertise to power social discovery, content relevancy and product personalization across Live Nation’s businesses, which include Ticketmaster.com, Live Nation Concerts, Front Line Management Group and Live Nation Network.
“BigChampagne now collects and analyzes more information about entertainment and online audiences than anyone in our sector’s history,” Eric Garland, founder of BigChampagne, said in a statement. “From my first conversation with Live Nation, it was clear to me that this is the right place to dramatically evolve and extend what we’ve built. We’re connecting fans with things they’ll love that are happening nearby or soon, or both. Most importantly, Live Nation has assembled an extraordinary team and we are honored to be invited to join them.”
Related links:
http://www.livenation.com/investors
Photo by Flickr user nImAdestiny, used under Creative Commons license
