Picklive could change the way you watch TV sport

Social media has changed the way we enjoy televised sport. Tools like Twitter allow for a live ‘backchannel’ to pass comment on games in realtime. Picklive aims to build on this by introducing a gaming element for TV sport viewers.

At present the service ties in with live football (that’s soccer if you’re in the States) matches. It works like this: Users select three players from a football match being broadcast live on television. They are awarded points according to the relative performance of those players versus those selected by rival users.

Users can substitute players in real-time as the match unfolds in order to try to maximize their point totals. The winner is the user who has accumulated the most points over the course of the game. Users play in 10 minute games across the full 90 minutes of the football match.

Picklive was devised by Tim Morgan and Noam Sohachevsky who came up with the idea whilst working at London agency Mint Digital. Inspired by the possibilities of 2-screen computer/TV experiences, the service aims to combine mass online participation with the thrill of live sporting events to create a new way to enjoy televised sports. Originally a spare time project, the game has gained financial backing from a number of angel investors, including Stefan Glaenzer, one of the founding investors in Last.fm.

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Picklive Football is the first project from the London based team, although other sports will follow in the future. As for a business model, the company will be launching a ‘pay to play’ game with cash prizes next month, to tie in with the World Cup. However, free games will continue to be available.

We’d say Picklive would be the perfect thing to play on an iPad while watching sports on TV. The only problem with that? Picklive uses Flash.